MINGORA, Sept 22: The death toll from dengue fever in the district reached to 19 as another patient died at Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital here on Sunday.

According to Dr Wasil Khan, the focal person for dengue emergency unit, Anwar Ali died of dengue at hospital. He added that 22-year-old patient died at high dependency unit after being kept at the hospital for 12 hours.

He said that 85 more persons were tested positive for dengue fever, taking the number of affected people to 4,105 at Saidu hospital. The district administration said that 5,486 persons were tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease across the district.

Dr Khan said that 70 patients were discharged from the hospital after completion of their treatment. Out of 33 complicated cases, 28 patients were admitted to high dependency unit of the hospital, he added. Sources said that attendance of students at different schools remained thin due to outbreak of the disease in the district. Three students identified as Abbas, Taj Bibi and Amir Hussain had died of dengue while hundreds of students and teachers were tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease.

Saleemullah, the in-charge principal of government higher secondary school in Mingoa, told Dawn that they had 1,500 students at the school but 30 per cent of them remained absent due to outbreak of dengue. He said that one of their student, Abbas, died of dengue while scores of other students, two teachers, a watchman and a peon of the school were also tested positive for the disease.

Mr Saleem said that they had created awareness among their students about dengue. The government should run an effective awareness campaign for elimination of the mosquito-borne disease in the district, he added.

Maaz Khan, a student of class 9, said that he was affected by dengue fever few days ago. “This is the responsibility of government to take immediate steps for eradication of the disease,” he added. Ayaz, Yousif and Jamil, both students of class 10, were also affected by dengue. They said that they were aware about the means and ways of spreading dengue virus. “This is our collective responsibility to prevent the disease from further spreading,” they added.

MALALA: The education campaigner Malala Yousafzai and her other two schoolmates reunited in Birmingham, England the other day.

Malala, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramazan were injured when terrorists attacked their school van on October 9, 2012. They are now in England to resume their studies. Riaz Ahmad, the father of Kainat, said that his daughter reached England where Malala Yousafazi, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai and Shazia Ramazan received her at Birmingham airport.