PESHAWAR: With 247 more people coming down with dengue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, Peshawar district continued to be worst hit by the mosquito-borne disease in the province with 194 new cases.

The experts insist that the fever incidence will begin to decline in the middle of the current month due to lower temperature.

“The ideal temperature for mosquito growth and survival is 19-35 degree Celsius and it will fall after November 15. Peshawar recorded 24 Celsius today, so the dengue incidence will continue to be high until the middle of the current month,”a health department official told Dawn.

He said overall, the dengue-related situation in the province was under control.

Experts see lower incidence after Nov 15 due to drop in temperature

According to a report prepared by the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System of the provincial directorate-general (health services), Peshawar, Swabi, Haripur, Nowshera and Mansehra districts are most affected by dengue in the province recording 194, 19, eight, five and four cases respectively on Saturday.

It said 8,090 people had been infected with the fever in the province since its outbreak three months ago.

The report said 46.88 per cent of the cases i.e. 3,793 were reported in Peshawar.

According to it, 6,861 (84.80%) of the patients have recovered from the fever and 238 were reported in the last 24 hours.

The report said active dengue cases in the province totalled 1,220.

The health officials said mortality from dengue was very low in the province during the current year as nine people lost life to the infection.

They said the dengue mortality rate was 0.11 per cent as the case management at hospital level had improved as the mosquito-borne disease had hit the people every year since 2017.

The officials said anti-dengue activities were under way in the province, mainly in high-risk districts, but the residents of infection hotspots were highly uncooperative towards the authorities trying to stem the spread of the fever.

Meanwhile, officials of Peshawar administration in collaboration with those of the health and agriculture departments, Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar, and municipal authorities visited 12 villages, which were reporting 70 per cent of the cases in the district.

Under amicro-plan designed by the IDSRS, sevenen tomologists, polio workers and lady health workers have been visiting villages to ensure that the people take precautionary measures to stay safe from the vector-borne infection.

A news release said deputy commissioner of Peshawar Khalid Mehmood had been leading the dengue campaign to do away with the causes of virus and inform the people about fumigation and elimination of stagnant pools.

It said the suspected patients were tested on the spot and the positives ones were referred to the medical teaching intuitions for management.

The release said currently, 158 patients were being treated in the hospitals.

According to it, dengue fever is widespread in the province. However, most districts have reported few cases, but others continue to diagnose new patients every day.

Of the cases, Haripur recorded 543, Nowshera527,Mardan 451, Mansehra 398 and Swabi 393, Khyber 316, Buner 288, Shangla 204, Abbottabad 180, Kohat 163 and Charsadda 127.

A total of 47,859 suspected patients have been tested so far.

Meanwhile, a report of the health department said four more people died of coronavirus and 65 were infected with the virus in the province.

The deaths were reported in Peshawar, Mardan, Swat and Dera Ismail Khan each.

According to the report, the province’s Covid-19 deaths and cases totalled 5,769 and 178,577, respectively. Of the cases, 171,371 (95 per cent) have recovered. A total of 106 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours. The province has 1,437 active Covid-19 cases.

Of the 300 hospitalised patients, 20 are critical and on ventilator.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2021