Two more deaths due to dengue in Delhi this year have been confirmed by government authorities, raising the official toll to seven, even as the total number of cases of the vector-borne disease has crossed the 4,300-mark, according to data shared by the city's civic body on Monday.
On December 19, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had said five deaths had been confirmed till then by a review panel. These fatalities had taken place during the September-November period. However, 37 cases of fatalities due to dengue infection and its complications as reported this year from various hospitals were sent to the Dengue Death Review Committee for examination, a senior official had earlier said.
In a fresh report on Monday, the MCD said a total of 4,361 dengue cases have been reported till December 23, including 766 from December 1-23. Nearly 250 dengue cases have been reported in the national capital from December 16-23, taking the infection tally of the vector-borne disease past the 4,300 mark so far this year, according to the civic report.
Of the total cases, 1,420 were recorded in November, 1,238 in October and 693 in September. In 2021, dengue claimed 23 lives in the city, the report said. The senior official on December 19 had said out of the 37 deaths reported from hospitals, the review committee had declared 16 as "suspected cases", and added that six others who died had co-morbidites such as chronic liver, diabetes, hypertension, kidney and cardiac-related illnesses and other chronic illnesses.
"One other person who died had come from Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. Status of the rest nine were pending," he had said. The five deaths confirmed till December 19 included a seven-year-old girl who died at a hospital in Janakpuri in October, and four other women victims. The dengue infection tally stood at 4,114 till December 16.
The city has also recorded 258 cases of malaria and 47 cases of chikungunya this year, according to the report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). In 2017, the city logged 4,711 cases in the January 1-December 23 period, the report stated. In 2015, the city witnessed a massive dengue outbreak, with the number of cases crossing 10,600 in October. It was Delhi's worst dengue outbreak since 1996.
According to the MCD report issued on Monday, the city recorded 23 dengue cases in January, 16 in February, 22 in March, 20 in April, 30 in May, 32 in June, 26 in July, and 75 in August. Cases of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria are usually reported between July and November, sometimes stretching till mid-December.
According to the officials of the MCD's health department, symptoms of vector-borne diseases include high fever, headache, rash, muscle and joint pain, which are quite similar to that of COVID-19, which also include fever or chills, muscle or body aches, fatigue and headache among others.
Last year, 9,613 dengue cases were recorded in the city, the highest since 2015, along with 23 deaths -- the highest since 2016. In 2018, Delhi reported 2,798 dengue cases during the January 1-December 23 period, according to the report. The corresponding figures in 2019, 2020, and 2021 were 1,998, 1,062, and 9,545.
Ten deaths each were reported due to dengue in 2016 and 2017, four in 2018, and two in 2019.The official data showed that 4,431 dengue cases were recorded in Delhi in 2016, 4,726 in 2017, 2,798 in 2018, 2,036 in 2019, and 1,072 in 2020.
The MCD report stated that breeding of mosquito larvae has been found at 1,71,334 households this year till December 23. Authorities have issued 1,21,688 legal notices for mosquitogenic conditions, and 45,906 prosecutions were launched so far.
