Dengue fever claims another life in ICT

Islamabad : The population in this region of the country is facing a much more intense phase of dengue fever outbreak that has claimed life of another patient belonging to Islamabad Capital Territory in the last 24 hours taking the total number of patients so far who died of the infection from the federal capital to six.

The patient who died of dengue fever from Islamabad was a resident of Union Council Rawat from where one patient had already lost his life due to dengue fever this year. Earlier, the infection claimed two lives from UC Tarlai and two lives from urban areas in the federal capital. It is alarming that another three patients had already lost lives due to the infection in the Rawalpindi district.

According to District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, as many as 104 individuals have tested positive for dengue fever from the federal capital taking the tally to 1,923 including 1,150 confirmed dengue fever cases from rural areas and 773 cases from urban areas in Islamabad. To date, six patients have lost their lives due to the infection including four patients from rural areas and two from urban areas in the federal capital. Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday reveals that another 76 patients have tested positive from Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 1,810. On Sunday, as many as 230 dengue fever patients were undergoing treatment at the three allied hospitals in Rawalpindi including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, and District Headquarters Hospital of which 152 had already been confirmed positive for dengue fever.

According to the District Health Department Rawal­pindi, two of the admitted patients were in critical condition, one at BBH and the other at HFH on Sunday. According to health experts, the incidences of dengue fever have been on a continuous increase and the dengue fever outbreak at the time can be termed as intense. It is time for individuals to take extra care to avoid dengue fever. People should take all necessary preventive and control measures inside their homes and workplaces giving mosquitoes no room to grow and feed on humans. Experts believe that the most important preventive measure to avoid dengue fever is to avoid contact with mosquitoes.