Punjab authorities brace for potential dengue outbreak

Officials warn number of cases may be five times worse than last year

LAHORE:

The country may not be out of the woods yet when it comes to the novel coronavirus, but a familiar viral threat appears to be just around the corner.

The monsoon season in conjunction with authorities’ inability to carry out preventive measures has heightened the risk of dengue outbreak in Punjab, officials warned. Only this time, authorities are bracing for an outbreak five times worse than last year, they said.

Last year, more than 47,000 cases of dengue fever were reported from all four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir between the months of July and November. Punjab alone accounted for a little less than 9,700 cases, 16 of which ended in death.

According to Punjab health officials, the presence of dengue-carrying mosquito larvae has been confirmed in as many as 4,000 locations across the province, prompting the provincial government to muster an emergency response. They warned that in Lahore alone, these larvae were breeding in as many as 800 different locations.

Dengue ends naturally, wards stay for next year

“The novel coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected dengue virus prevention,” admitted one official. “Since many sites, including government offices and private institutes, were closed on account of Covid-19, dengue-carrying mosquitos have had ample space to breed,” he said.

“On top of that, our entire manpower and machinery has been focused on coronavirus prevention,” he added. “In the past four months, no fumigation activity has been carried out to prevent the possibility of a dengue outbreak.”

Given these circumstances, officials warned that a dengue outbreak this year was likely to be far more severe than last year. “We expect cases to cross 300,000,” said another official.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid said her department is taking all measures to control a potential dengue outbreak along with existing cases of Covid-19 and polio in line with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s directives.

Uncontrollable dengue virus claims another life​​​​​​​

“All commissioners and deputy commissioners had been directed to monitor measures to prevent and control dengue in their areas, and we will review these steps week to week,” she said. “Surveillance teams will be dispatched to identify potential dengue larvae hotspots and we will also collect statistics from all public and private laboratories. There will be no tolerance for inaccurate case figures,” she added.

The minister urged the general public to do their part in preventing a possible outbreak of dengue by keeping their homes and neighbourhoods clean. “In case anyone needs dengue-related information, they can call the health department hotline,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2020.