New Delhi, October 17
The nationwide dengue toll has increased to 108 with five more deaths in the past 24 hours. The official figure on the dengue toll is 103. While three deaths have been reported in Delhi and the National Capital Region, two deaths were reported by Punjab and Uttar Pradesh since Monday.

According to the control room of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), the number of dengue cases across the country has increased from 5418 to 5710 due to 292 fresh cases reported from five states. The number of dengue cases in Delhi and the National Capital Region has increased from 1548 to 1637. In the past 24 hours, Punjab has registered the maximum increase (117) in dengue cases followed by Delhi (89), Haryana (48) and Uttar Pradesh (39).

The NVBDCP Director, Dr P.L., Joshi says that the maximum rise in dengue cases has been reported from Ludhiana.

“This is because Ludhiana is an industrial town with a high migrant population. The Aedes Egpti mosquito breeds in containers at construction sites.’’

WHO Representative to India Dr S.J. Habayeb, who suffered from dengue in 2003 when India last witnessed a major dengue outbreak, says: “Technically, an epidemic is declared when a disease exceeds the endimicity (expected) level. The average of dengue cases in India in the past three years works out to be about 10,000. The number of dengue cases should exceed 10,000 to technically call it an epidemic. At the moment, dengue cannot be declared an epidemic. It is a serious spread but the number of cases are expected to decline by the end of October.