ISLAMABAD: Another spike was seen in the number of dengue cases on a single day in twin cities as the capital reported 94 and Rawalpindi 74 cases on Thursday.

District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia said during the last 24 hours, 54 cases from rural areas and 40 from urban areas were reported. Out of the total, 32 patients are admitted in Polyclinic, followed by 19 in Holy Family Hospital, seven in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), three each in Capital Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) while 30 patients are in private hospitals.

Dr Zia said 32 cases were reported from Tarlai, followed by six from Alipur, five each from Tarnol and Koral, three from Sihala, two from Sohan, and one from Rawat.

The total number of cases in the city rose to 369 - 232 from rural areas and 137 from urban areas, the DHO said, adding that out of 232 cases reported from rural areas, 121 were reported from Tarlai, 43 from Koral, 21 each from Tarnol and Alipur, nine from Sohan, six from Sihala, five from Rawat, four from Bhara Kahu and two from Jhangi Syedan.

Indoor residual spray activities were conducted in 2,007 houses, while fogging was carried out in 2,993 different spots to eliminate Dengue larvae, he said, adding that 2,147 houses were visited by separate teams of the District Health Office.

Four containers were found positive with larvae in the 910 containers spotted on Thursday, he said, adding that out of the total 194 were destroyed and the remaining were covered.

Similarly, 962 potential breeding sites of dengue larvae were also found and eliminated, the DHO added.

Meanwhile, 74 dengue patients were reported in three government-run hospitals of Rawalpindi district.

According to the data of Rawalpindi Medical University, in 2021, from Jan 1 to Sept 30, a total of 2,535 suspected dengue patients were reported in outdoor patient departments (OPDs) of Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital and 387 were confirmed patients.

It stated that 270 confirmed dengue patients arrived in HFH, 84 in BBH and 33 in DHQ Hospital. As many as 140 dengue patients are currently admitted in three government-run hospitals including 61 in HFH, 54 in BBH and 25 in DHQ hospital.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the number of the dengue patients increased and most patients arrived from Misrial Road of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and Dhoke Chiraqdin areas fell in Chaklala Cantonment Board.

He said 38patientsfrom Islamabad were also brought to government-run hospitals in Rawalpindi, adding, most patients from Islamabad were from I-9, I-10 and areas around Islamabad Expressway.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2021