Chikungunya cripples Delhi's health, death toll climbs to 14

The death toll due to dengue in national capital New Delhi mounted to 14 as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences confirmed the five cases of fatalities due to the vector-borne disease which has also affected over 1,150 people this season.

"The five deaths from dengue took place between September 1-13," a top AIIMS official said.

On Monday, the premier institute had said that it was looking into the details of these "five suspected cases".

Till Tuesday, at least nine deaths due to dengue were reported this year in the national capital, though the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, which compiles the report on vector-borne diseases on behalf of all civic bodies here, has maintained the death toll at four.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences is getting several dengue patients everyday in its fever clinics, though its laboratories are testing less cases as positive compared to over 1,440 chikungunya blood test samples which have tested positive till Tuesday.

At least 1,158 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital with nearly 390 of them being recorded in the first 10 days of September, the month in which the vector-borne disease begins to peak.

387 cases were reported this month, marking a rise of over 50 per cent from the previous count, according to a municipal report released on Wednesday.

Over 770 cases were reported till September 3 this season. Out of the total number of cases, August alone has accounted for 652.

The last dengue fatality reported was of Iram Khan (25), a native of Meerut, who lived in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi, who succumbed to dengue on August 31 at Apollo Hospital.

The other three deaths reported by SDMC include Nazish (38), sister-in-law of Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan, who had died of dengue shock syndrome at Apollo Hospital on August 12. Muskan (12), a resident of Shaheen Bagh here, had died on July 29, while Deepak (19), from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to the disease on July 27. Both died at the Safdarjung Hospital.

Besides, five other fatalities have been reported by different hospitals in the city, which have not been acknowledged yet by the SDMC.

This year, dengue cases have been reported rather early.

The vector-borne disease had claimed its first victim on July 21 when a girl from Jafrabad in northeast Delhi died at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.

Last year, the city saw a staggering 15,867 dengue cases --the worst in 20 years--with the disease claiming 60 lives, as per municipal reports. In 2015, August and September had seen 778 and 6,775 cases respectively while October had recorded a staggering 7,283 cases.

In 2015, only six cases were reported in June, while 36 were registered in July.

In 1996, a severe outbreak of dengue had occurred in Delhi when about 10,252 cases and 423 deaths were reported.