Dengue epidemic threat downgraded

Only 15 patients reported, against 2,200 last year

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi District Health Authority (DHA) has lowered the dengue threat due to lower number of patients coming to hospitals as compared with last year.

The comparative analysis report of DHA shows that only 15 dengue positive cases surfaced in Rawalpindi in September compared to 2,200 in the previous year.

Therefore the health department has commenced micro-planning for the anti-dengue campaign. The health experts have declared October as an important month concerning the dengue virus spread. However, they said that if the situation remained under control in October, the dengue larvae and mosquitoes would die a natural death due to start of cold weather in November.

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Naveed Ahmed said that though the number of patients was not high, the dengue-surveillance campaign was underway in full swing. He added that under-construction buildings, junkyards tyre shops, were being focused.

Meanwhile, the dengue wards and dengue counters in all three allied hospitals in Rawalpindi including Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), Holy Family Hospital (HFH), and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital have been made operational.

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