Dengue patients’ influx sets off alarm

66 more dengue patients land in three major hospitals of Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI:

At least 66 more dengue positive patients arrived in hospitals during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally of hospitalised patients to 78, health officials said on Sunday.

A total of 52 confirmed dengue positive patients were admitted to the Holy Family Hospital, nine to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital and six to the District Headquarters Hospital.

Dengue wards, special counters and test kits have been made available in the three hospitals to tend to suspected dengue patients.

Suspected dengue patients were being to city hospitals from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and other districts.

Health officials have advised citizens to take precautionary measures to avoid contracting the dengue virus.

Read Over 3,000 dengue breeding spots identified in Rawalpindi

On the other hand, four patients succumbed to the coronavirus during the past 24 hours in Rawalpindi.

All four patients died at the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant.

At least 60 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours in the district, while the test-to-positivity ratio has reached 6.4 per cent.

Among 115 admitted patients in the hospitals of Rawalpindi, 92 were on oxygen and 21 on ventilators, while 670 infected patients were observing home isolation.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Commissioner Gulzar Hussain Shah has said that the divisional administration was fully engaged in coping with the rising number of dengue cases besides the coronavirus.

Chairing a meeting to review the coronavirus situation, he said that more and more people were needed to be vaccinated to get rid of the lethal virus.

He said that so far 2,577,561 people, including 41,894 health workers, have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 across the district.

The meeting was informed that sessions of surveillance committees were being held regularly to oversee dengue teams’ performance at district and tehsil levels.

Read more Dengue onslaught

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali has directed officials concerned to devise effective strategies to deal with the increasing number of dengue cases in the district.

Chairing a meeting to review the prevailing dengue situation and measures taken for the eradication of the virus, he directed that anti-dengue regulations should be fully implemented and stern action be taken against those failing to comply with the laws.

The spell of rains last week has increased the threat of dengue larvae, which needs to be tackled urgently, he said. The DC directed that surveillance activities and the tracing of larva and its eradication be expedited, besides focusing on hotspots from where dengue larvae have been detected.

He directed the officials to monitor junkyards, schools, and under construction buildings which lead to the breeding of dengue larvae.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Faiza Naeem briefed the meeting that a case response activity had been carried out at those residences and workplaces where the dengue cases have surfaced.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2021.