By IRNA,
New Delhi : The number of dengue cases crossed the 800 mark in India’s national capital, Delhi on Monday with 259 more cases being detected in the last ten days alone.
Talking to IRNA Dr. Niha Ranjan Das, Deputy Municipal Health Officer of Municipal Corporation of Delhi said: “The total number of patients who tested positive for the virus came to 823, while two deaths have been reported so far.
Najafgarh municipal zone with highest number of 115 cases, Shahdra North with 103, West Delhi 86 while Rohini with 82 cases, are the most affected areas of the city.
However, he maintained it was not a panic situation.
“The criteria for considering the disease as an outbreak is the number of deaths and the complicated cases detected,” said Dr. Das.
Adding that since the above two criterion are well under control there is no need to panic.
He further said that it is the peak season for the spread of dengue and the spate in the number of cases was nothing unusual.
“Lesser number of cases are being reported now compared with the past few days. Earlier we used to receive 20 to 25 new cases per day, but now that number has come down to about 15 cases. This number would come down even further in another 15 days,” he added.
In addition to dengue, the civic body also received three new cases of Chikungunya on Sunday, said Dr. Das.
Chikungunya fever, is a viral illness that is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. The disease resembles dengue fever, and is characterized by severe, sometimes persistent, joint pain(arthritis), as well as fever and rash. It is rarely life-threatening.