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Dengue fever claims 2 more lives in capital

By Muhammad Qasim
November 08, 2016

106 tested positive in last three days;
1,830 plus cases so far tested positive from federal capital

Islamabad

The on-going most severe dengue fever outbreak in the history of federal capital has claimed two more lives in a private hospital in Islamabad, while as many as 106 more patients have been tested positive from Islamabad in last three days taking the total number of patients so far confirmed positive for the infection to 1830 this year.

According to details, two patients died of dengue fever at Shifa International Hospital in town of which one was taken to the hospital from Sargodha, while the other was a resident of Islamabad. I have been notified of the two deaths due to dengue fever by the administration of SIH three days back, said Additional District Health Officer at Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

He, however, claimed that the number of patients of dengue fever being reported from the federal capital is on decline due to fall in temperature and on average, less than 35 patients are being reported daily from Islamabad these days. “Earlier the number was above 70,” he said.

He informed ‘The News’ that in last three days, from Friday to Sunday as many as 106 patients have been tested positive for dengue fever from Islamabad. He added the total number of dengue fever patients so far confirmed in the federal capital has crossed the figure of 1,830.

It is important that the number of dengue fever patients from Islamabad has not only set a new record of most cases in a year this time but also set a new record of most cases in a year as compared to total number of confirmed patients of the infection in previous 10 years, from 2006 to 2015.

When asked, Dr. Durrani said of course, the dengue fever outbreak is of the most severe nature in Islamabad this year as compared to the infection’s spikes in previous years. It has set new record of most cases from both urban and rural areas of the federal capital in a year, he responded.

He added so far nearly 200 confirmed patients have been reported from urban areas of Islamabad, while over 1,600 from rural areas of the federal capital. To a query, he said patients confirmed positive from Islamabad also include those who have been living here for earning bread and butter.

Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that the dengue fever outbreak severely his population in at least five union councils falling in rural areas of the federal capital including Sohan, Rawat, Tarlai, Koral and Tarnol.