Malaria and Dengue on the Rise in New Delhi: Municipal Report

Delhi LG Anil Baijal in May, directed officials to work on spreading awareness and public sensitisation.

Five fresh cases of malaria have been reported in the past week in the national capital, taking the toll to 29 this season.

(Photo: iStock)

Five fresh cases of malaria have been reported in the past week in the national capital, taking the total number of people affected by the vector-borne disease this season to 29, according to the latest municipal report released on Monday, 18 June.

One fresh case of dengue was also recorded in Delhi till 16 June.

Fourteen cases of chikungunya have also been recorded in the same period.

Of the 29 cases of malaria, 17 were recorded in May, eight in June, one each in April and March and two in February.

Of the 24 dengue cases, six were recorded in January, three in February, one in March, two in April and 10 in Nay and two in June, according to the report.

The cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between mid-July and November-end, but this period may stretch up to mid-December.

There were no cases of any vector-borne disease till 13 January.

Meanwhile, domestic breeding checkers have found mosquito-breeding in 33,622 households in the city till 16 June, the report said.

It said 39,699 legal notices have been served for various violations and “2,673 prosecutions have been initiated”.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal had last month directed officials to work on spreading awareness and public sensitisation on a war footing to prevent vector-borne diseases in the city.

He had directed that crisp messages, particularly in vernacular languages, must be disseminated, besides involving school students in the awareness-generation drive.

Baijal had instructed local bodies to regularly monitor the work done by the domestic breeding checkers and fix their accountability.

The LG had also emphasised that top priority must be assigned by the local bodies to the areas identified by the Health department as most vulnerable to mosquito-breeding.

At least 10 people died in Delhi due to dengue in 2017, according to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates data for the entire city.

Five of the 10 victims were not Delhi residents, but had died in the national capital.

Overall, the vector-borne disease had affected 9,271 people in the city in 2017.

The official toll maintained by the Delhi municipal authorities till 26 December had stood at four, even though some hospitals had reported a few more deaths due to dengue.

The mosquito-borne tropical disease had claimed its first victim in the city last year on 1 August when a 12-year-old boy died of dengue shock syndrome at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH). Three more deaths were reported in October by the SDMC.

The number of malaria and chikungunya cases recorded last year stood at 1,142 and 940, respectively.