‘Rise in dengue cases due to more testing centres’

New Delhi : The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has attributed the significant rise in dengue cases in the city this year to an increase in the number of testing centres, which has grown from 36 to 900 compared to last year, according to an official report.

As of July 6, Delhi recorded over 256 dengue cases, which is nearly double of the 136 cases recorded in the corresponding period in 2023 and the highest since 2020, according to the report’s data. In previous years, the number of dengue cases stood at 153 in 2022, 38 in 2021, and 22 in 2020.

The highest number of dengue cases were recorded in the Najafgarh Zone, the report said. No deaths due to the vector-borne disease have been reported so far this year. Last year, 19 deaths occurred due to dengue, the second-highest since 2020.

“The rise in the number of cases this year is because more testing centres have started collecting samples and reporting the dengue cases to the civic body. Until last year, there were about 36 testing centres. Now, this number has increased to 900 because of which the numbers appear to be inflated,” a senior civic body official said.

The peak season for dengue is yet to arrive in Delhi and the situation will call for urgent attention when the monsoon advances, providing a suitable atmosphere for mosquito breeding to increase significantly, the official said. Usually, it takes about 10-15 days for a larva to become an adult mosquito that spreads dengue. The MCD is taking various measures to curb breeding at the source, another official said.

According to the report, in areas under the jurisdiction of other agencies like New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Delhi Cantt and Railways, around 10 dengue cases were reported as of July 6.