Dengue outbreak enters the most intense phase

Islamabad : A tremendous increase in the number of patients being tested positive from Islamabad Capital Territory has shown that the dengue fever outbreak has entered the most intense phase after the setting in of the most suitable weather conditions for transmission of the infection in this region of the country.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Saturday has revealed that in the last 72 hours, as many as 218 new dengue fever patients have been reported from ICT while from Rawalpindi, 134 individuals have tested positive for the infection in the last three days. In the last three days, another 352 patients have been reported positive for dengue fever from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi recording an average of over 117 patients per day. The total number of patients so far reported from the twin cities has reached 3567 on Saturday morning.

District Health Officer Islamabad Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia informed ‘The News’ that a total of 1,738 individuals have so far tested positive for dengue fever from ICT this year of which 1130 patients have been reported from rural areas and 608 from urban areas of the federal capital.

Talking of the surge in the number of dengue fever cases from ICT, he said the number of cases would remain higher for another couple of weeks or so mainly due to weather conditions and after that, there would be a decline in the number of dengue fever cases in this region of the country. The temperature has already started falling in the region and within two weeks or so there would be a significant drop in the number of dengue fever cases, he added.

It is, however, important to mention here that the average number of dengue fever patients reported per day from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi had never crossed the figure of 100 in the history of dengue fever outbreaks except for once in 2019 and in 2022 when the outbreaks set records with well over 12000 and 10000 cases respectively.

Confirmation of 134 cases from Rawalpindi district in the last three days has taken the tally from the district to 1,829. On Saturday, the number of dengue fever patients undergoing treatment at the three teaching hospitals in town including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital was over 115 of which 92 had already been tested positive. The maximum capacity of managing dengue fever patients in indoor patient departments at the allied hospitals is 170. To date, no death has been reported due to dengue fever in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.