Dengue tally crosses 4K-mark

New Delhi: More than 250 dengue cases have been reported in the national capital in December, taking the infection tally of the vector-borne disease past the 4,000 mark so far this year, according to a civic report issued on Monday.

In November, 1,420 cases were logged, while 1,238 cases were recorded in October. The dengue infection tally stood at 3,857 till December 9, and 257 more cases have been recorded since then till December 16. The city has also recorded 251 cases of malaria and 45 cases of chikungunya this year, according to the report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Of the total of 4,114 reported cases, 693 were logged in September. In 2017, the city logged 4,711 cases in the January 1-December 16 periods, the report stated. No death has been reported so far this year due to the disease while in 2021, dengue claimed 23 lives, the report said. 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 2,774 dengue cases during the January 1-December 16 periods, according to the report. The corresponding figures in 2019, 2020, and 2021 were 1998, 1062, and 9,414. 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 1,70,538 households this year till December 16. Authorities have issued 1,20,907 legal notices for mosquitogenic conditions, and 45,868 prosecutions were launched so far.