Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 27: Six minors, including an eight-month-old boy, have died from dengue in the last two months, bringing the total number of deaths from the vector-borne disease in Delhi this year to 23, according to a civic body report released on Monday.
The number of dengue cases in the city has risen to over 9,500, though only about 130 new cases have been reported in the last week, indicating that the increase is far less than what was previously reported.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) official dengue death tally stood at 17 as of December 18.
According to a report on vector-borne diseases released by the civic body on Monday, a total of 9,545 dengue cases and 23 deaths have been recorded this season through December 25.
According to a senior SDMC official, these six fatalities occurred between late October and late November. One of the victims, an infant boy, was only eight months old. He was a Kirari resident who died on November 3 at CNBC Hospital, according to the official.
Other minors who died from dengue during this time period included a 15-year-old boy from Mehrauli, who died on October 28 at Rainbow Children’s Hospital, and an 8-year-old girl from Dakshinpuri, who died on November 5 at AIIMS Hospital, according to SDMC officials.
According to the official, three other minors, all boys, aged 7, 10, and 13, died from dengue on October 29, October 21, and November 21, respectively.
This month, a total of 1,269 dengue cases have been reported in Delhi as of December 25. According to the report, in the previous years, the total dengue cases reported were 4,431 (2016), 4,726 (2017), 2,798 (2018), 2,036 (2019) and 1,072 (2020).
The city experienced a massive dengue outbreak in 2015, with the number of cases exceeding 10,600 in October alone, making it the worst outbreak of the vector-borne disease in the national capital since 1996.
The number of dengue fatalities in the national capital this year is the highest since 2016, when the official death toll was ten. Dengue fever claimed the lives of two people in the national capital in 2019, four in 2018, and ten in each of 2017 and 2016.
According to the SDMC’s official tally, the number of dengue deaths in the years preceding 2020 was as follows: 2 (in 2019); 4 (2018); 10 (2017); and 10 (2016).
The city had recorded a total of 5,277 dengue cases as of November 17, making it the highest number of cases of the vector-borne disease recorded in the national capital in a year since 2015.
According to the SDMC, the city’s nodal agency for tabulating data on vector-borne diseases, a total of 1,072 cases and one death were recorded in the entire year of 2020. The 6,739 cases reported in November were by far the most in a single month this year. It is also the highest November count in at least six years.
In 2021, the month-by-month distribution of dengue cases is as follows: January (0), February (2), March (5), April (10) and May (12), June (7), July (16), August (72), September (217) and October (1196), according to the report.
