Pakistan: Punjab’s Rawalpindi becomes `hotspot’ for Dengue

INTERNATIONAL DESK: With the rising number of cases, the provincial health department has declared a dengue emergency in Rawalpindi district in Pakistan’s Punjab, media reports said.

The health department has termed the district ‘most sensitive’ to Dengue as the number of dengue cases is continuously on the rise. Next to the Rawalpindi district, the Punjab Health Department has declared Lahore district as the most sensitive, reported The Express Tribune.

To stop the situation from spiraling out of control, over 1,000 teams have been formed to eradicate the dengue virus from the district. According to the data, the number of suspected dengue fever patients across the district has reached 91, out of which 29 patients have been diagnosed with dengue virus.

Moreover, the hospitals are also ramping up the facilities in case the cases spike. The health department has also been instructed to make arrangements for the treatment of dengue fever on an emergency basis in all allied hospitals.

In a worrisome statement, district administration officials said that the number of dengue fever patients is increasing continuously, as per the media outlet.

Providing further details on the rising dengue cases, the official said that Kahuta and Chak Jalaldin are the areas from where most of the cases were reported. Moreover, a large number of dengue larvae were being found in residential areas of the inner city and cantonment areas continuously.

As per statistics, cases have been registered against more than 724 people for not following anti-dengue Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs), said the official, adding that in the first week of August, 98,120 houses were checked, out of which dengue larvae were found in 1,357 houses.

The official said it has been revealed that the highest number of larvae has been found in Potohar Town.

The checking of a total of 16,2913 places of commercial areas, under-construction buildings and deserted areas has been completed, he said, adding that around 60 percent of places were found with dengue larvae.

Therefore, 297 buildings were sealed during anti-dengue operations, while so far fines of more than over Rs2.3 million have been imposed for negligence.

Around 9,474 places across the district have been declared hotspots for dengue and 3,450 hotspots are in Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation area. Thus, the district administration has decided to impose dengue emergency in the district after consulting with the experts. (ANI)