Dengue cases on decline, claims health official

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Faiza Kanwal here on Sunday said that dengue fever cases had registered a sharp decrease in the city during the last two days due to continuously waning temperatures.

The CEO said that around 40 patients had been brought to the allied hospitals of the city last Friday and 44 on November 6, while the number of daily patients was 70 to 80 earlier.

“This year, around 2,980 dengue cases were brought to the three public sector hospitals of the city so far, out of which 2,050 belonged to Rawalpindi,” said Dr Faiza. “Interestingly, the number of cases was 16 in 2020 and 6,058 in 2019 during the period.”

She said that as many as 2,900 patients were discharged after treatment from the allied hospitals, while 274 beds were available to deal with the dengue patients, including 175 at Holy Family Hospital, 69 in the District Headquarters hospital and 30 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

Referring to the anti-dengue drive from January 1 to November 6, the health official said that the authority had sealed 379 premises, registered first information reports (FIRs) against 273, challaned 865, issued notices to 1,779 and imposed fines of Rs905,500 on those violating standard operating procedures (SOPs) in various district areas.

Dr Faiza expressed hope that in the coming days, dengue cases would witness a further drop as the weather turns cooler.

She urged the residents to keep their water tanks clean, ensure that all surfaces are free from stagnant water, adopt preventive measures and inform the department immediately on toll number 0800-99000 if dengue larvae were found in their houses, as the government alone cannot control the spread of dengue larvae.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2021.