RAWALPINDI: Three people have tested positive for the dengue virus from the city and cantonment areas, leading the Rawalpindi district administration to speed up its efforts to carry out a door-to-door survey.

Two patients are from Mumtaz Colony and Tench Bhatta, and another is from Dhoke Mangtal. An employee of Holy Family Hospital (HFH) has also contracted the dengue virus.

A senior district official told Dawn that seven people have tested positive for dengue in Rawalpindi, with four reported in August alone.

There are another 3,127 suspected patients in the three government-run hospitals in the city, HFH, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and the District Headquarters Hospital. Teams from various Punjab government departments and the local administration have visited all the union councils in the district, and dengue larvae were found in 14,472 places.

He said the district administration was working to detect dengue larvae despite heavy rainfall in the region. He added that the number of patients may rise because of the monsoon, which will continue until Sept 15.

Patients reported from Mumtaz Colony, Tench Bhatta and Dhoke Mangtal; district admin speeding up efforts to carry out door-to-door survey

Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq said that the dengue situation is better than what it was last year, because of the administrative efforts to control the virus.

He said 340 dengue patients were reported by this time last year, and dengue larvae was recovered from 10,152 places between Jan 1 and Aug 29, 2019.

He said the people should support the government in order to make the ongoing campaign against dengue successful and should take precautions to prevent dengue.

He said epidemics such as dengue and Covid-19 can be defeated with public support.

He said the only way to stop the spread of the dengue virus is if the people adopt precautionary measures, do not let water accumulate in and around their houses and maintain cleanliness.

At a meeting to review the dengue prevention drive, Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood said that dengue could spread because of heavy rainfall this season.

He said that the district administration is continuing its efforts to control dengue. He directed officials from the concerned departments to further intensify dengue prevention activity to eliminate mosquito breeding sites during indoor and outdoor activities.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2020