Dengue on rise, cases at record high in Punjab

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 24

The cases of dreaded dengue fever, both suspected and confirmed, are at a record high in the state, the government has confirmed.

Ludhiana, the biggest and largest district in terms of area and population of around four million people, has so far reported 103 confirmed dengue patients, which are seventh highest in the state, the official figures have revealed.

However, no death due to dengue has been reported in the state.

Confirming an upsurge in dengue cases in Punjab, Principal Health Secretary Alok Shekhar told The Tribune on Friday that dengue cases are being reported from all districts of the state.

“Major districts reporting dengue cases are Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Mohali, Bathinda and Pathankot,” he disclosed.

Taking cognisance of the situation, the state government has made elaborate arrangements to check the further spread of dengue.

Not only dengue testing has been made free of cost at the government facilities but also the number of testing labs exclusively for dengue has been increased to 39.

Shekhar said sufficient kits for testing were made available in the government hospitals, number of breeding checkers for spray activities for dengue has been increased to 460, and 50-60 houses surrounding the house from where a case was reported were sprayed with suitable insecticide.

Besides, the management of dengue has also been made free of cost, dengue wards and beds have been identified, and whole blood and blood components were made available in the government hospitals.

All private medical practitioners have been directed to report dengue and malaria cases to the Health Department.

The district-wise data of dengue cases till September 23 compiled by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, showed that Hoshiarpur reported the highest of 403 confirmed and 1,506 suspected patients, followed by Amritsar 384 confirmed and 453 suspected, Muktsar 285 confirmed and 542 suspected, Bathinda 237 confirmed and 629 suspected, Mohali 178 confirmed and 528 suspected, and Pathankot 159 confirmed and 530 suspected cases.

The state-wise tally indicated that a total of 8,713 suspected and 1,942 confirmed dengue patients have been reported across the state till Thursday. This was the highest count of both confirmed and suspected cases during the corresponding period in the past four years.

The year-wise comparison revealed that till September 23, Punjab had reported 6,703 suspected and 1,467 confirmed dengue cases in 2018, 7,300 suspected and 675 confirmed in 2019, and 3,453 suspected and 883 confirmed in 2020.

This year so far, among other districts, Barnala reported 218 suspected and 7 confirmed dengue cases, Faridkot 324 suspected 2 confirmed, Fatehgarh Sahib 107 suspected 5 confirmed, Fazilka 141 suspected 6 confirmed, Ferozepur 512 suspected 25 confirmed, Gurdaspur 100 suspected 25 confirmed, Jalandhar 58 suspected 6 confirmed, Kapurthala 391 suspected 30 confirmed, Mansa 101 suspected 4 confirmed, Moga 96 suspected 4 confirmed, Patiala 467 suspected 24 confirmed, Ropar 260 suspected 8 confirmed, Nawanshahr 178 suspected 19 confirmed, Sangrur 315 suspected 9 confirmed, and Tarn Taran recorded 152 suspected and 19 confirmed patients of dreaded vector-borne disease.

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