Two more dengue patients reported

LAHORE:The dengue virus has been confirmed positive in two more patients, which raised the total cases of dengue fever in Punjab to 63 this year, according to a report issued by Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Department on Thursday.

One patient each has been confirmed with dengue virus positive in Lahore and Rawalpindi, which raised the number of confirmed dengue fever cases in the two cities to 17 and 11, respectively.

Seven dengue fever patients are under treatment in hospitals, while all other patients have recovered. No death due to dengue fever has occurred in Punjab this year. Lahore and Rawalpindi have been most affected districts due to presence of dengue larvae in houses and outdoor places.

The dengue larvae have been found in 6,108 houses in Lahore and 2,806 houses in Rawalpindi followed by 240 houses in Chakwal in the last one week. The presence of dengue larvae has been found at 477 outdoor spots in Lahore and 342 outdoor places in Rawalpindi followed by 89 and 81 outdoor spots in Faisalabad and Gujranwala, respectively, in the last one week.

Minister: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid directed officials to scale up surveillance in the Cabinet Meeting for Dengue Prevention at Darbar Hall of Civil Secretariat here on Thursday.

The minister reviewed dengue control activities in the province. Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Captain (Retd) Usman Younis gave briefing to the minister on dengue prevention activities.

The minister said, “All the commissioners and deputy commissioners must personally supervise dengue prevention activities. In view of changing weather, efforts for dengue control need to be scaled up accordingly and no negligence will be tolerated. The Punjab Healthcare Commission must present report on inspection of hospitals.