MINGORA, Sept 3: Eighty more people tested positive for dengue here on Tuesday, taking the number of the mosquito-borne disease’s sufferers in Mingora city and its surrounding areas to 1,800 since last month.

An official of Saidu Teaching Hospital said dengue screening tests had been done on 3,200 residents since August 11 when three dengue cases were reported in the city for the first time.

He said 1,800 people had been diagnosed with dengue until now and of them, around 850 were stable who had been advised to get treatment at home due to normal condition.

The official said the condition of the rest of dengue patients ranged between moderate and severe and therefore, they had been admitted to hospital for treatment.

According to Dr Wasil Khan, focal person for STH, 80 more residents tested positive for dengue on the premises on Tuesday, while the hospital discharged 72 patients after completion of treatment.

He said a total of 949 dengue patients had been admitted to the hospital since the disease surfaced in the district last month and that after the discharging of 781 patients, 168, including 49 women, were under treatment at the hospital.

Also in the day, the chiefs of various government departments met at the office of acting deputy commissioner of Swat Farrukh Attique to discuss the dengue-related situation in the district.

Besides top officials of the education, health, police, agriculture, forest, fisheries, social welfare and information departments, representatives of the Municipal Committee, Mingora and Saidu Teaching Hospital also attended the meeting.

The acting DC said the people should be fully aware of how dengue spread and how it could be prevented and controlled.

He said the relevant officials should go from door to door to make the people aware of ways and means to prevent dengue.

Mr Attique urged the residents of Mingora city to come forward and make the city clean and destroy the dengue mosquito’s breeding places.

“Besides the government, it is the responsibility of the people, too, to do their bit to defeat dengue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the local media management committee met here with additional assistant commissioner Jan Mohammad in the chair.

Swat Press Club chairman Rashid Iqbal and officials concerned attended the meeting, where activities related to public awareness of dengue were examined.

The participants said the anti-dengue campaign should be expedited to achieve targets.