According to municipal corporation’s data released on Monday, 2,625 chikungunya cases and 1,378 dengue cases have been found.
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While another report by Delhi government says that no one in the capital has died of chikungunya. With the latest death due to dengue at Lok Nayak Hospital, the dengue fatalities reached 20. There was one dengue suspected death in July when a girl from Jaffrabad had died. “And, so these co-morbid conditions led to their death and not chikungunya per se”, a top official said.
According to a municipal report released today, at least 1,568 chikungunya cases were recorded till September 17 in the last week, marking a massive rise of almost 150 per cent from the previous count.
This year till September 11, at least 14,656 cases have been reported across the country, with Karnataka alone accounting for 9,427 followed by 1024 in Maharashtra and 543 in Andhra Pradesh.
While 99 cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, 35 of those diagnosed with the disease came from Haryana and 276 from other states.
Since there is chikungunya outbreak this season, the disease has claimed 15 lives with deaths being reported at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Apollo, Hindu Rao and AIIMS, which The Pioneer reported earlier.
At SGRH, 75-year-old JD Madan died on Thursday morning – the fifth person to have succumbed to chikungunya at this hospital in the last five days.
The number of chikungunya cases in the national capital has mounted to 2,625, with almost 60 per cent of these recorded in the last week, as the outbreak of this vector-borne disease eclipsed dengue. “However, from onset of October, there will be slight decrease in the cases”.
The symptoms of chikungunya are similar to dengue, but experts said chikungunya is generally not “life-threatening” but in rare cases can trigger complications which prove fatal, especially in elderly and children.
Disposing of a PIL filed by a Delhi-based advocate, the bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal again asked the government authorities to ensure private and government hospitals did not deny treatment to patients suffering from dengue and chikungunya. He said stern action will be taken against the accused official in case of a complaint of misbehaviour. A total of 91 cases were reported in July, six cases were recorded in May, while June witnessed 15 cases.
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Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital, the biggest under the Delhi government, has this season recorded 462 chikungunya cases, while almost 750 people on an average are visiting its fever clinics everyday.
