RAWALPINDI: As many as 25 dengue patients landed in three government hospitals in the garrison city on Tuesday.

Among the new patients nine belonged to the garrison city, including five from cantonment areas and two each from Rawal and Potohar towns.

Officials said 18 patients came from areas located in the limits of the federal capital.

Dr Sajjad Mehmood, District Coordinator for Epidemics Prevention and Control, told Dawn that teams from the district health authority completed spray in and around areas from where the new patients had reported.

He said that under the standard operating procedures (SOPs), dengue response teams conducted indoor surveillance in the area from where a dengue case is reported.

He said that in the three government hospitals, 126 beds were allocated for dengue patients and 89 patients were admitted in three hospitals — Holy Family Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital. he said 39 cases were confirmed and the dengue serology reports of 50 patients were awaited.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali on Tuesday said all possible steps would be taken for dengue control and if any official was found negligent in its responsibilities strict action would be taken.

He said that the sudden increase in the number of dengue patients was a matter of concern.

He said this while presiding over a meeting attended by officials of the health, environment, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation and other departments.

The deputy commissioner said eradication of dengue larvae was inevitable and in this regard, besides government departments, the residents would have to play their role and keep their homes and offices and shops clean and dry.

Islamabad

Ten more cases of dengue were reported in the capital on Tuesday.

The District Health Office said six cases were reported from rural areas and four from urban areas.

The six cases reported from rural areas included three from Tarlai and one each from Sohan, Koral and Jhangi Syedan.Separate teams from the District Health Office (DHO) visited 1971 houses and found 23 of them positive with stagnant water, the DHO said, adding 749 open containers were found and out of the total eight were positive with larva.

Besides, 622 potential breeding sites were also eliminated.

The DHO also issued an advisory for the prevention of dengue fever.

“It is to inform that there have been an increasing number of cases of dengue being reported from Ghouri Town,” it said, adding as people frequently commute between Ghouri Town, high risk societies and other areas for their residences and workplaces, they get a bite from infected mosquitoes and are likely to spread the disease.

It is, therefore, requested that all possible measures should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease, it added.

— Additional reporting by Munawer Azeem

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021