Dengue cases reduced to half in 2019: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that his government's anti-dengue drive has resulted in a reduction in the number of dengue cases to 467 till now, as compared to 830 cases last year.

Kejriwal underlined that the ongoing dengue prevention awareness campaign '10 Hafte, 10 Baje, 10 Minute' has been showing excellent results.

"The latest data released on Monday showed that there have been 467 cases of dengue in Delhi till now, whereas last year (2018) there had been 830 cases of dengue so far," Kejriwal said.

He said the data released till October 12 shows that there has been no dengue death in the national capital this year so far, whereas there had been four deaths last year while the number of casualties due to this vector-borne disease in the preceding years had been in double figures.

"The data showed that there has been a steady decline in cases of dengue in Delhi since 2015, when the disease outbreak had claimed 60 lives, but this year Delhi has controlled dengue beyond all expectations, and even the final number of cases is expected to be very low." The Chief Minister had launched the dengue prevention awareness campaign on September 1 and during the next six Sundays the campaign has been continuing across Delhi with people from all walks of life actively participating in it.

Kejriwal has appreciated the efforts of Delhiites and while thanking the residents for keeping up the awareness drive, he appealed to the people to remain alert till November 15.

"The key to prevention of dengue is ensuring there is no stagnant water in homes and around, which does not allow the Aedes mosquitoes to breed, and therefore dengue cannot spread," he said.