KARACHI: Two more dengue fever patients died in the city while a malaria patient died at a Sukkur hospital, raising the mortalities from the mosquito-borne diseases to 38 and four, respectively, the health department stated on Thursday.

According to officials, the dengue patients, one male and the other female, died at the Ziauddin Hospital, North Nazimbad campus.

The death of a male malaria patient, hailing from Kandhkot, was reported at the Ghulam Mohammad Mehar Medical College Hospital in Sukkur.

A total of 6,927 cases of dengue fever have so far been reported in the province in September alone. The total cases reported so far this year reached 9,496.

In Karachi, 10 patients have died of dengue in district East, 18 in district Central, three in district South, two in district Malir and one each in Korangi and West districts.

A total of 5,368 malaria cases were reported in Sindh on Sept 29.

While the spike in cases of dengue and malaria in the province showed no significant decline, the municipal bodies in Karachi have claimed to have covered 60 to 70 per cent of the city in the ongoing fumigation drives that would continue till December.

Independent experts, however, doubted the overall government efforts and called for coordinated efforts for an effective prevention strategy.

The experts say the actual number of dengue-related deaths as well as positive cases in the metropolis are also much higher.

Only on Tuesday, Sindh reported its first deaths from malaria as two patients died in Sukkur.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022