New Delhi:
A teenaged girl has become the latest victim of dengue in the capital, as number of cases climbed to over 3,500 so far.
17-year-old Yashica Narang from Rajouri Garden in north-west Delhi died on September 24, a report released by the MCD said today.
With this, the official death toll now stands at five, while six persons have been put under the suspected dengue death category by the municipal bodies.
3,519 cases have been reported till today with October itself registering nearly 1,400 cases, the report said.
The capital had witnessed large number of dengue cases in the 2010 with over 6000 cases being reported. In 2008, over 1,300 cases were registered, 1,153 in 2009, over 1,100 cases in 2011 and 2,093 last year.
While figures for various corporations are (North) 1621, (South) 981 and (East) 773, 72 cases were reported from regions in Delhi outside the jurisdiction of MCD and 30 cases in other category.
A total of 37 cases have been reported from other states. While cases in Rohini Zone mounted to 749, still the highest, Shah (North) and Shah (South) Zones both saw close to 400 cases. Najafgarh (304), Civil Lines (295), Narela (274), and Karol Bagh (257) also posted over 250 figures, among other places.
September saw a total of 1,962 cases, the highest for a month so far this year while October has seen 1,395 cases.
Meanwhile, cases of malaria have dipped with five reported this month compared to 62 in September.
All corporations have intensified efforts to check the disease before the ensuing assembly.
"We are doing everything possible to contain the spread of the disease and fumigation and anti-larval routines are being carried out along with regular checking in households," officials said.
South Delhi Municipal Commissioner Manish Gupta said, "We also have been doing 'dengue homework programme' in our schools where kids are asked to collect information about the disease, and in the process they sensitise not just themselves but also their parents".
Mosquito breeding has been found in 1,56,331 households so far against 91,417 last year for the same period. Number of prosecution launched so far is 20,575 compared to 5,865 last year for the same period.