As many as 1158 dengue and 1057 chikungunya cases have been reported in Delhi.
Four dengue deaths and as many as 1158 dengue and 1057 chikungunya cases have been reported in the national capital till September 10, though their number was "less" than last year due to "preparatory activities", AAP Government told the Delhi High Court today.
The government denied claims that Delhi was facing the "worst dengue crisis" and said they have taken a slew of measures to control these vector-borne diseases, it said in an affidavit filed before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.
It said strict surveillance of preparedness and impact of these diseases have been carried out for taking further preventive measures as, due to environmental conditions, the number of diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria "shows upswing during July to October".
"The core mandate of GNCTD is to ameliorate the duress, reduce uncertainty in the mind of citizens and provide immediate and high quality health care whenever any patient presents with symptoms of vector-borne diseases.
"Owing to early start of preparatory activities of GNCTD, this core mandate has been effectively discharged. Number of dengue fever cases reported are less in comparison to previous year in spite of early and more rainfall this year," the affidavit said.
Maintaining that four deaths have been reported due to dengue, the government said till September 10 this year, 1158 dengue cases were reported, out of which 804 patients are Delhi residents while 354 are out of Delhi.
It said 1057 cases of chikungunya were also reported but no death has been attributed to this disease till September 10 as per the report of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
During the hearing, petitioner advocate Shahid Ali claimed that a number of deaths have been reported due to chikungunya and the Delhi government was saying that people should ask the Lieutenant Governor (LG) about it.
Delhi government's senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra said they have done everything based on the experience of last year and released funds to the civic bodies in advance to combat the situation.
The bench, after the hearing, asked the petitioner to come up with suggestions on the steps required to be taken in this regard and fixed the matter for orders on September 20.
"We will consider all the aspects and pass orders. If we are not satisfied, we may again call the government," the bench said.