KARACHI, Oct 13: Health authorities on Thursday confirmed death of two more persons — a minor girl in Karachi and a young woman in Ghotki — taking the toll of dengue in Sindh to 10 for this year.

A four-month-old girl, a resident of Phase-V, DHA, died in the Aga Khan University Hospital on Oct 13, while a 17-year-old-woman, a resident of Qasim Shah Mohalla in Ghotki, died on the third day of her admission to the Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College in Sukkur.

On Thursday, 20 more patients, including 14 in Karachi, either suspected of suffering from dengue or confirmed cases, were admitted to or seen in the OPDs. A total of 880 patients have been brought to government and private hospitals across the province since January, 2011, 643 (73 per cent) of whom have tested positive for dengue.

The focal person for the provincial dengue surveillance cell, Dr Shakeel Mullick, said the victims had tested positive for dengue. The Karachi baby, as reported by the hospital concerned, was admitted on Oct 2.

He further said that the teenage girl of Ghotki was admitted to a hospital there on Oct 7, and she died on Oct 9 at the GMMCH, where she was brought later. Her death was first of its kind officially reported in the interior of Sindh, while the number of patients who died in Karachi hospitals rose to nine on Thursday, the focal person added.

Earlier, a dengue-positive patient had died on Sept 9 at the AKUH. The hospital has reported three deaths to the surveillance cell this year, followed by three others by the Civil Hospital Karachi, two by Dr Ziauddin Hospital and one by the OMI hospital.

Seven women and three men aged between four months and 70 years have died in the province due to dengue this year.

According to surveillance cell data, 47 patients, including 39 in Karachi, were still admitted to hospitals in Karachi, which has had 516 dengue-positive cases so far.