NEW DELHI, May 8: The number of rare bacterial meningitis cases in the Indian capital rose by at least 30 to 170 with 15 confirmed deaths from the disease, a spokesman for the New Delhi Health Ministry said on Sunday. “There were about 30 new cases reported in the past 24 hours,” the spokesman said, bringing the total number of cases reported to 170.

“We have not got any new reports of deaths due to the disease in Delhi,” the spokesman said.

On Friday, a New Delhi municipal officer said 15 people had died due to the disease in the city which has a population of about 14 million. Earlier this month, several cases of the disease were first reported from Old Delhi, the heart and most congested part of the city, but bacterial meningitis has now been reported from all parts of the capital, the spokesman said.

India’s federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told parliament on Friday there was “no cause for alarm” and assured lawmakers that efforts were under way to check any further spread of the disease.

The bacteria which causes the disease infects the fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord. It is spread by direct contact with droplets from the nose and mouth of infected people.

Media reports said alarmed parents had stopped sending their children to school and were seeking vaccinations in large numbers. Officials said all doctors and health workers treating the patients were being vaccinated as were the relatives of those infected.

Bacterial meningitis claimed 16 lives among 258 people affected in China earlier this year. The disease was last reported in large numbers in India a decade ago.—AFP