Despite winter, fresh dengue cases emerge in Delhi

Dengue cases continue to rise in the national capital despite weather conditions becoming unfavourable for the breeding of mosquito larvae, suggests a report by Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

According to the weekly report by the MCD released on Monday, 24 fresh dengue cases were reported in the last one week taking the total count to 141 in December so far. While in 2017, only 81 cases were reported in the same month.

So far, four deaths caused by dengue have been confirmed in Delhi, which includes that of a 13-year-old girl from Wazirabad area. The other three cases are reported to be from west and north Delhi.

As per the report, 2,798 people have been diagnosed with the vector-borne disease in Delhi so far in 2018. However, the number is less than what it was in 2017: 4,711.

In 2015, Delhi saw its worst dengue outbreak with more than 11,800 cases and 60 deaths, according to the city's civic bodies.

As for malaria, no new case surfaced last week taking the toll to two so far for the month. In November, 33 malaria cases were reported in the city, according to the municipal report. So far, 473 malaria cases have come to light, while in 2017 it was 575.

Only one new case of chikungunya was reported this week keeping the total number of cases at 4 in the national capital while in November, there were 28 cases. This year, so far 165 chikungunya cases have been reported in the city compared to 557 in 2017. - IANS