PESHAWAR: Health department started distributing impregnated bed nets in endemic areas along with launching awareness campaign at motorway tool plaza and rapid bus transit as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 79 more dengue cases during the last 24 hours, making the total tally 1,081.

In a statement, Health Secretary Adeel Shah said that so far 300,000 bed nets were given to people in at-risk areas to avoid mosquito bites and stay protected from being infected with the virus. Health department has started screening public awareness messages in BRT buses and stations, amid upsurge in the vector-borne disease, especially in the provincial capital Peshawar.

A report compiled by Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System of public health section at directorate-general health services showed that currently 24 patients were hospitals due to the mosquitoes-borne disease while 643 had fully recovered and released from isolation.

It said that the province was home to 436 active cases currently and all were in isolation as they could endanger the lives of others. The number of hospitalisation stands at 136, mostly in Peshawar, which is leading the provincial case count with 305 infections.

During the last three days of October, 177 cases have been diagnosed positive for the vector-borne sickness. Last month, the province reported 761 cases. Only two deaths, both in Nowshera, have been reported due to dengue this year. Abbottabad, Hangu, Mansehra and Nowshera have confirmed 132, 115, 94 and 92 patients, respectively.

Another report said that indoor residual spray (IRS) of insecticides in and around the households from where dengue cases were reported was conducted. It said that people were not cooperating to discard infested water. It added that the department was also short of chemicals.

The department’s plan to utilise the services of seminary students to remove potential breeding sites for mosquito in their own households and neighbourhood has been thwarted by lack of cooperation by Auqaf department.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2024