Highest number of dengue cases reported in a day

Islamabad:The situation regarding the spread of dengue fever in this region of the country is becoming alarming as in the last 24 hours, another 96 individuals have tested positive for dengue fever from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi which is the highest number of confirmed dengue fever cases reported in a day from the region this year so far.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Friday has revealed that to date, a total of 1,388 patients have so far been confirmed positive for dengue fever from the twin cities. It is, however, important to mention here that apart from these 1,388 patients, well over 80 other patients belonging to other districts of the country have also tested positive in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

According to District Health Officer Islamabad Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, as many as 64 new cases of dengue fever have been reported from Islamabad Capital Territory in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 617 of which 421 patients have been reported from rural areas and 196 from urban areas of the federal capital.

Dr. Zaeem informed ‘The News’ that another 37 dengue fever patients belonging to other districts of the country were reported in ICT while 23 patients either had wrong addresses, and phone numbers or were duplicate cases.

According to DHO Islamabad, 69 per cent of the total dengue fever patients so far confirmed positive from the federal capital are males while 31 are females. The most affected age group by the infection is 20 years to 39 years as 291 of the total 617 cases from ICT belong to this age group. To date, 132 of the reported patients from the federal capital are 10 to 19 years of age while 128 are from 40 to 59 years of age. Only 29 dengue fever patients below nine years of age have so far been reported from ICT while 33 patients are between the age of 60 and 75 years.

From Rawalpindi district, 32 new dengue fever cases were reported in the last 24 hours taking the total number of patients so far registered from the district to 771 of which well over 120 patients were undergoing treatment at the three teaching hospitals in Rawalpindi including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital. On Friday morning, nine of the admitted patients were in critical condition.