KARACHI, Oct 4: As many as 40 new cases of viral haemorrhagic or dengue fever have been reported by 12 city hospitals during the last 24 hours ending at 3pm, pushing up the number of patients affected by mosquito-borne disease to 539 in the city on Thursday.

According to a coordinator of the provincial dengue monitoring cell, nine new patients of dengue fever have been admitted to the Ziauddin Medical University and six to Darul Sehat. People affected by the deadly dengue virus were pouring in from almost all the localities of the city, he added.

The official said that about 125 patients had been under treatment at various health care facilities.

Of the total 539 cases reported so far, around 249 have been tested positive for dengue fever, 198 came as dengue negative, while laboratory reports of about 92 patients are still awaited.

A maximum 35 such patients are under treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, while another 17 and 16 at the ZMU and the Liaquat National Hospital respectively.

Other hospitals where patients are undergoing treatment are the Aga Khan University Hospital, Civil Hospital Karachi, Bismillah Taqee Hospital, National Institute of Child Health, Baqai Hospital, Patel General Hospital, OMI, Usman Hospital and Services Hospital.

According to official reports, patients suspected to have contracted dengue have been reporting to various city hospitals since late August. The disease caused by dengue virus spread through a mosquito Aedes Aegypti, has so far claimed six lives in the city.

The last death due to the disease was reported from the AKUH on Wednesday.

The gravity of the situation could be gauged through the fact that the AKU received a total of 60 patients from Sept 1 to Oct 4 and all were tested positive for dengue fever.