Centre sends NCDC team to probe children's deaths in UP's Firozabad

The Union Health Ministry has sent a team of doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to investigate the death of children due to fever in Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The viral fever like symptoms resembling suspected dengue have claimed the lives of at least 41 people, including 35 children and 6 adults, in Firozabad district in the past 10 to 12 days.

Among the common symptoms of this illness are high fever and low platelet count that suggest dengue. The officials are conducting dengue and COVID-19 tests, besides looking at the possibility of other diseases.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also visited the patients in the district on Monday.

District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh has ordered closure of all schools for classes 1 to 8 till September 6 due to the outbreak. In his order issued on Monday night, the district magistrate said it will be applicable to all government and non-government schools as well as coaching institutions.

He reportedly said that a team of the World Health Organization (WHO) told him that it could be dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). DHF is a severe and fatal form of the disease which causes a sudden drop in platelet count and bleeding in the gums.-IANS