Although a drop has been noticed in the number of fresh dengue fever cases being reported from different parts of Punjab due to some effective measures taken by the provincial government, but the virus still poses a threat to the people’s lives as it claimed four more lives in the province, including three in Lahore, during the last 24 hours while as many as 113 more infections were reported from across the province during the same period, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

According to the department of Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Punjab, out of 113 fresh cases, 88 were reported from Lahore alone; seven from Gujranwala; four from Rawalpindi, three cases were reported from Multan, two cases each were reported from Faisalabad, Gujrat, Bahawalnagar and Sheikhupura, while one case each was reported from Chakwal, Khanewal and Nankana Sahib. 

With four more deaths, the death toll from the virus in the province this year now stands at 142.

Meanwhile, Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Punjab Imran Iskandar Baloch has said the department’s drive against the dengue has gathered pace as its teams are exterminating the larvae so that the disease could be prevented from spreading further.  

Baloch further said that so far 24, 921 cases of the virus had been reported from across the province this year. “Out of these, 17, 788 cases were detected in the provincial capital alone,” he elaborated.

He informed that presently 936 dengue patients were admitted at Punjab’s government hospitals. “Of these, 692 are admitted at Lahore’s hospitals,” he disclosed. 

The health secretary went on to add that 4, 937 beds had been reserved for the patients at province’s government hospitals. “Out of 310,508 indoor as well as 66,366 outdoor sites the health department teams had searched in the province during the last 24 hours, it eliminated the larvae at 192 of these places,” he explained. 

Similarly, he added, dengue’s larvae were eliminated at 167 indoor as well as outdoor places in the provincial capital during the last 24 hours.

Baloch appealed to the people to take precautionary measures. “Just like you protect yourself from the coronavirus, also take precautionary measures against this virus,” he advised.  

Marked reduction in dengue cases in Islamabad:

With considerable drop in temperatures in Islamabad, the number of fresh cases of the virus has also nosedived as just one case was reported, and that too from the outskirts of the federal capital during the last 24 hours.

According to the district health officer (DHO), so far 21 people have lost their lives to the disease in the capital and its surroundings.   

Dengue also begins to recede in KP:

The dengue fever is also showing signs of retreat in in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as only 35 people were diagnosed with the virus in the entire province in the last one day.

According to the KP health department, the number of positive cases in the province presently stands at 131, while 10, 334 infections have been reported this season so far. “Similarly, 10 patients have died from the virus in the province till this date,” it elaborated. 

Reporters Azmat Awan and Saba Bajair