: In the past week, Delhi recorded 40 new cases of dengue, taking the total for 2016 to 90, according to data released by the municipal corporations on Monday.
This month, till July 23, the number of confirmed cases of the vector-borne disease was 62, much more than the number of cases in all of July 2015 when 40 cases had been recorded. Last year had seen the worst dengue crisis in at least 20 years, with a whopping 15,867 cases and 60 deaths from the disease.
The municipal corporations, which are tasked with the control of vector-borne diseases, however, claim that the numbers are not as alarming as they seem.
“In most of the cases patients contracted the disease from outside Delhi,” said a senior South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official. Of the 90 cases in 2016, 38 were patients who got the disease in Delhi, while the remaining 52 were those who contracted dengue in other States.
Taking precautions
The corporations are carrying out awareness campaigns about the precautions needed to avoid the disease. Students of SDMC schools had been asked to wear full-sleeved clothes to prevent mosquito bites.
