Struggle against dengue continues

The city reported 30 cases of dengue on Monday,  revealed data from the municipal bodies. At least 62 new cases were registered in the last two days alone, taking the total number to 455 so far this year.

After a lean year till early September, the number of dengue cases has been on a rise. Municipal data shows 224 cases were registered in the last week.

Till October 6, there were only 169 confirmed cases, but by October 13 Delhi had 393 patients of dengue. Apart from 2008 and 2010, which were the years of dengue epidemics, it is the highest in the past five years.

State health minister A K Walia directed all government and private hospitals and blood banks to produce platelets and allied products round-the-clock.

Delhi has 53 blood banks – 14 state-run and 39 in private sector. He directed government facilities to provide platelets not only to their indoor patients but also to patients from private hospitals.

There are 33 designated hospitals which act as ‘sentinel surveillance centre’ for dengue and other vector-borne diseases. He said the government is in the process of upgrading eight more facilities.