There are no signs that the dengue virus is on the retreat in Punjab, particularly in Lahore, as two more people died from the virus in the provincial capital during the last 24 hours while at the same time as many as 225 new cases were also reported, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Imran Iskandar Baloch, Department of Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Punjab secretary, has ordered the concerned departments to accelerate the pace of anti-dengue activities.

Talking to the media, he said that the health department teams had already sped up their efforts to eliminate larvae of the virus. “Total 277 new cases came to light from across Punjab during the past 24 hours,” he said, adding 12 cases were detected in Lahore’s neighbouring city of Gujranwala, 11 in Rawalpindi, six in Kasur, five in Sargodha, while three cases each were reported from Faisalabad and Sheikhupura. 

“At the same time, four deaths were reported from different parts of the province during the period under review; two from Lahore and one each from Gujranwala and Attock,” the health department secretary said.

He said that so far 20,922 cases had been reported from across Punjab this dengue season. “Out of these 20,922 cases, 15, 380 have been reported from Lahore alone,” he disclosed.

Baloch further said that 90 people had so far lost their lives to the virus in the province. “1, 854 patients are currently admitted at Punjab’s hospitals out of which 1,215 are in Lahore’s hospitals,” he elaborated.

Similarly, he went on to add, 5,518 beds had been reserved for the dengue patients at all government hospitals of the province, while the number of beds were being increased on a daily basis at provincial capital’s teaching hospitals in view of surge in the cases of the virus. 

Health department secretary informed that out of 450,291 indoor and outdoor 102,914 places the department teams had searched during the past 24 hours, they managed to eliminate the larvae at 954 places. 

While urging the masses to protect themselves from the dengue and the coronavirus pandemic simultaneously, Baloch appealed to the clerics to inform the faithful of the consequences of the disease in case they fell prey to it. 

“Please keep your surroundings neat and clean so that the virus’s birth could be prevented,” the health department secretary appealed.  

114 cases reported from KP:

With 114 fresh cases of the dengue reported from different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during the last 24 hours, the number of cases reported this year now stands at 9091, while nine people have lost their lives to the virus in the province so far. 

According to the health department, 86 people are currently admitted at province’s hospitals with symptoms of the virus.  “95 cases were detected in Peshawar during the last 24 hours, hence taking the number of infections reported from the provincial capital so far to 4,559 while four cases each were reported from Mardan and Haripur.

Reporters Zahid Chaudhry, Azmat Ali Shah