10,210 chikungunya cases in Delhi, 38% rise over last week

new delhi — Chikungunya cases in Delhi have crossed the 10,000mark this season, with nearly 2,800 of them being reported in the last week, according to a municipal report released today.

The dengue cases, meanwhile, continued to plateau in the national capital with 3,333 cases being recored till October 22 this season.

Of the the total 10,210 chikungunya cases, nearly 700 of them have been reported in areas falling under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

At least 7,425 chikungunya cases and more than 3,000 dengue cases were reported in the city till October 15, according to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) which tabulates the data for vector-borne disease cases in the national capital on behalf of all the civic bodies here. Among the three corporations, 693 chikungunya cases have been reported in areas under NDMC, 619 under SDMC and 338 under East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) this season.

3,161 cases have also been reported from areas falling outside the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations. And, 3,338 cases have been recorded from other states.

At least 15 fatalities have been reported at various hospitals in the city due to complications triggered by the chikungunya, though the civic bodies have kept the death tally at zero.

Delhi and other parts of north India are facing a spike in chikungunya cases after nearly 10 years. In 2006, over 1,300,000 suspected cases of chikungunya were reported, the data said. Dengue cases on the other hand, continued to taper, with just 324 fresh cases reported in Delhi in the last one week. This month 1,200 cases have been recorded till October 22. Last year, out of the 15,867 dengue cases, 7,283 were reported in October, the highest among all the month. Also, September last year had seen 6,775 cases but only 1,362 cases were reported this September.

At least 21 deaths due to dengue have been reported at various hospitals, including nine at AIIMS, though the civic bodies said only four persons died of the disease this season. Experts say a “less virulent strain” of dengue virus is in circulation this year compared to the one last year or in 2010 when 6,259 cases and eight deaths were reported by SDMC.

1,300 cases were reported from areas falling outside the jurisdiction of municipal corporations in the city. 1,039 cases were reported to have originated from neighbouring areas outside of Delhi.

In NDMC area, breeding of mosquitoes was found in 61,510 houses, 83,232 houses in SDMC area and 22,391 in EDMC area. The number of prosecution launched in these areas was 4,973, 8,862 and 2,927 respectively. In 1996, Delhi had recorded about 10,252 cases of dengue and 423 deaths, prompting the authorities to declare it a notifiable disease. — PTI