LAHORE: The Punjab health authorities have claimed the number of pink eye cases have dropped considerably across the province due to the emergent measures taken by the government to curtail the infection.

They say the province reported only 1,134 new conjunctivitis cases during the last 24 hours.

A few days earlier, nearly 13,000 such cases were surfacing in Punjab, they said, adding that one of the major reasons for the reduction was the strategy of closing the schools and other such steps the government took to contain the disease outbreak.

On the other hand, the dengue fever continued to spread across Punjab, as 126 more patients tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours in the province, including 35 in Lahore.

The total number of positive dengue cases in Punjab has reached 4,431 since Jan.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the health department said that out of the total pink eye patients reported during last 24 hours in Punjab, 236 were in Lahore and 34 in Bahawalpur.

He said Bahawalpur city reported the maximum pink eye cases among the Punjab districts, except Lahore, this year.

So far, he said, 395,000 people have complained of the pink eye infection since Jan, 2023.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2023