PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi has instructed elected representatives and the information department to scale up awareness about preventive measures regarding Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever as the mosquito-borne ailment infected 63 more people, increasing the number of patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 3,792.

Officials said that the chief minister issued the order during a meeting. They said that the meeting was attended by Health Secretary Shahidullah Khan, Director-General Health Services Dr Shahid Yunis and other senior officials, who briefed the chief minister about the dengue scenario and ongoing efforts to prevent the spread of the infection in the province.

They said that the chief minister strictly ordered that MNAs, MPAs and other elected representatives at the union council level should take part in the awareness drive to contain the disease after he was briefed that the situation regarding the mosquito-breeding was favourable in the province and the disease would remain around the corner till early days of November.

The meeting was convened on an emergency basis in view of the upswing in dengue cases since the start of the current month. Public health experts and officials associated with the anti-dengue campaign informed the participants of the meeting that the province had been home to the disease for the last 10 years. They said that the disease infects people every year because mosquitoes, the carriers and transmitters of the disease, are present, due to which the virus cannot be eliminated.

Total number of patients in KP reaches 3,792

“In such a situation, the only option is to keep people safe from the virus. There is an intense need to inform people about causative agents of the disease,” officials said.

The elected representatives, the chief minister said, could play an active part in lessening the severity of the infection through awareness because people listened to their MPA, MNAs and councillors. Health officials said that people in endemic areas of the province should be asked to refrain from storage of water in open pots and eliminate stagnant water pools to deny breeding space to mosquitoes.

The chief minister directed health and other line departments to coordinate efforts and ensure that insecticidal spray was conducted as a top priority to eradicate mosquitoes and provide impregnated bed nets to people in hotspot areas. He said that there was no dearth of funds and asked the relevant authorities to procure the desired stuff to do away with mosquitoes and safeguard people.

Health officials on the occasion said that they had already allocated beds in every hospital, including medical teaching institutions, to provide better services to patients. “The virus will remain around the corner till next month; therefore, prevention is the better strategy,” they said.

The chief minister instructed authorities concerned to keep his office updated regarding the situation on a daily basis and pledged to monitor the situation.

He also issued instructions to the information department to engage the community for prevention, as the climate was suitable for the vector and education of people was very important, said officials, who attended the meeting.

According to a report released by the Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response System (IDSRS), 35 more patients checked into hospitals during the last 24 hours, bringing the number of currently admitted people due to dengue to 47. Since the start of the year, a total of 1,557 people have been hospitalised, while a total of 3,498 patients have recovered from the vector-borne sickness.

The disease has caused two deaths, both in Mardan, one of the high-risk districts, while the province has a total of 292 active cases, including 71 in Peshawar, 30 in Mardan, 21 in Haripur, 20 in Dir Lower, 14 each in Malakand and Hangu, 12 in Swabi, 10 in Bajaur and nine each in Lakki Marwat and Charsadda.

The three-page IDSRS’s report noted that Charsadda was atop of the list with 1,044 patients, Peshawar 377, Mardan 343, Haripur 329, Mansehra 299, Kohat 156, Swabi 148, Abbottabad 131, Dir Lower 118, Malakand 105 and Hangu with 102 patients. “Except for a few, all districts are endemic and are recording cases,” it said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2025