33 dengue cases reported Sunday,202 this year

The North Municipal Corporation reported the highest number of cases at 90,while the South corporation came a close second with 71 confirmed cases. The East corporation has 31 cases and three persons from the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area have tested positive so far.

Health officials said five patients from neighbouring states have been diagnosed with dengue in Delhi hospitals. There have been two deaths this season — a nine-year-old girl from Sangam Vihar and a 38-year-old man from Loni in Ghaziabad.

Walia convened a review meeting — the second in two weeks — and asked health officials to spread awareness about mosquito breeding. He said health workers,including the accredited social health activists (ASHA),need to be involved to make people aware of the measures to contain breeding of mosquitoes in houses and colonies.

A door-to-door campaign should be carried out,he said.

Walia said health officials should monitor the availability of beds in hospitals,platelets in blood banks,and test kits. Disaster wards should be opened,if the need arises,to accommodate patients suffering from vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria.

The minister told health officials of municipal corporations to focus their attention on areas from where maximum number of mosquito-breeding has been reported.

These areas include Indira Camp,Kalyan Vaas in Shahdara South; INMAS,Timarpur,Bhalswa Dairy,JJ Colony and Bhalswa in Civil Lines zone; Madrasi Huts,Lajpat Nagar and Shaheen Bagh in Central zone; and Rajasthani Colony and Dass Garden in West zone.

Last year,the Capital saw 216 cases of dengue and three deaths. In 2010,there were 4,108 cases,including 24 from outside,and five deaths,while the figures for 2009 were 29 cases and no casualty.

In 2008,there were 550 dengue cases and two deaths.