Five dengue deaths have been reported so far in the national capital
Five dengue deaths have been reported so far in the national capital even as the total number of cases shot up alarmingly to near 1,000 mark.
912 people have tested positive for dengue, an increase of over 95 per cent in five days from the previous tally of 446 reported on September 14.
Since the municipal bodies follow the Elisa Test for diagnosis as per the central government guidelines, they have confirmed only two deaths while the rest three cases are "suspected dengue death cases", a report released by the civic body said.
The victims confirmed by the MCD are - Phool Singh (47), resident of Ashok Nagar area, and Priyanka of Pratap Nagar area who died on September 5 and September 9 respectively, the report said.
The victims put under the suspected death cases include, Tarun Indooria (28), a contractual employee with the MCD, who was working as a Domestic Breeder Checker (DBC) and was the first death reported this year on September 1.
The other victims under the suspected category are - Sunita (35) of Sujan Singh Park and Dr Raman Arora (56) from Sarita Vihar, both of whom died on September 9 at the Moolchand Hospital, the report said.
For Delhi region till yesterday, 888 dengue cases were reported, while 24 were reported from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states, it said.
While figures for various corporations are North (477), South (228) and East (123), 60 cases were reported from regions in Delhi outside the jurisdiction of MCD.
Most number of cases which came were reported from Rohini (192) and Narela (109) in the North Zone.
Reacting to the report, the North and East Delhi municipal corporations' public relations officer Yogendra Singh Mann said, "Our death tally is still at two, because we accept only Elisa tests and not the Rapid Diagnosis Kit tests used in the other three cases as reported."
"Also, the figure of 912 is not an instant jump as few backlog cases have also been included. But, we are taking all the due measures as prescribed. We have already conducted health screenings in the victims' neighbourhoods and fumigation and spraying are also being carried out," Mr Mann told PTI.