LAHORE, Oct 20: At least six more patients including four women fell a prey to dengue virus in various hospitals on Thursday, raising the death toll of the disease to 281 in the provincial metropolis alone.

Reports said Rahat Bano (45) of Rajgarh and Rafiqa Bibi (76) of Township died at Mayo Hospital, while Zahid Bashir (27), a resident of Chah Miran and Muhammad Javed (45) of Sodiwal expired at Services Hospital.

Similarly, Robina Khalid (45), a resident of Green Town succumbed to the viral infection at Jinnah Hospital and 19-year-old Kiran of Chungi Amar Sidhu expired at General Hospital.

Meanwhile, as many as 296 more people were declared dengue patients after their medical examination.

According to a health department report, six patients died of dengue hemorrhagic fever during the last 24 hours.

The report said the total number of deaths caused by dengue virus has risen to 258 in Punjab, including 230 in Lahore. It said the total number of dengue patients reported in Punjab from January 2011 to date had reached 18,058, out of which over 15,000 were diagnosed in Lahore alone. As many as 286 new dengue fever cases have been found in Punjab out of which at least 175 fresh cases in Lahore during the last 24 hours, the report added.

It further said that at present 1,538 dengue patients were under treatment in different hospitals of Punjab, including 1,196 admitted in different hospitals of Lahore. Besides, as many as 17,795 dengue patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals in Punjab, including 15,229 from different hospitals of Lahore so far, according to the report.