Two dengue cases surface

The affected area has been declared a dengue hotspot

RAWALPINDI:

Dengue has reared its ugly head in the Rawalpindi district as two new patients have been hospitalised in the last 24 hours.

The new cases have put health authorities and the administration on their toes. According to sources, a man and a woman in Gulistan Colony Lane No-5 of Cantonment Board Chaklala jurisdiction. The patients, who were identified as Samina Kausar and Iqbal have been shifted to the hospital, the sources said.

Following surface cases, Gulistan Colony has been declared a dengue hotspot where house-to-house inspection has been started. Show-cause notices have been issued to five factory owners and households after finding the larvae in the locality, said sources.

Three dengue sanitary health workers have been suspended after the cases were reported.

Read 23 cases of dengue detected in Landi Kotal

A third-party survey on Adiyala Road also found five dengue health workers missing from duty.

Absence report against Maria Ikram, Zahida Bibi, Sanaullah, Atiq and Ahad Hussain has also been submitted to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amir Atiq for strict action, the sources said. Larvae were also recovered in four places during the survey.

Teams of the Civil Defence Department have started a survey in a tiles and pipes factory in Union Council 84 where the larvae emerged from its water tank and reservoir. A show-cause notice has also been issued to factory owners Asif Hussain and Javed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2021.