Dengue grips coastal belt in Balochistan

QUETTA:

Like the rest of the country, Balochistan continues to see an alarming surge in dengue cases amid recent outbreak in the aftermath of the devastating floods.

“A total of 177 dengue cases were reported across Balochistan,” Additional Secretary Health, Qaseem Khan Kakar told APP on Wednesday. He noted that majority cases were being reported from the coastal belt of Balochistan, including Kech, Lasbela and Gwadar.

“As many as 96 cases of dengue were reported from Kech district of Balochistan,” he added.

Lasbella which was earlier reported as the worst calamity-hit area of the province and could now be the worst hit in terms of dengue cases as the district reported 46 new cases on Wednesday, while Gwadar reported 35 cases,” he said. Around 2,830 cases of dengue were reported from Ketch this year, the additional secretary said.

Likewise, 391 cases had been reported from Gwadar, and 103 from Lasbela.

However, no case of dengue had been reported in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, he said. The number of dengue cases reported this year was 3,364 across the province, he said.

Despite all the warning by experts dengue outbreak has become almost an annual event in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2022.