Dengue cases spike amid rain, floods, MCD strike

Delhi has reported 105 new dengue cases in the last one week, taking the tally of the cases reported till August 5 this year to 348, the weekly mosquito borne disease report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi showed. This is the highest number of cases reported till August 5 for at least the last 10 years.

- Paras Singh

Meanwhile, the number of new weekly cases continues to almost double in the last three weeks with the city reporting 56 and 24 cases in the preceding two weeks respectively.

The decadal data from MCD shows that in comparison to the 348 dengue cases reported between January 1 and August 5 this year, the city had reported 174 cases in 2022, 55 cases in 2021, 35 in 2020, 47 in 2019, and 64 cases in 2018. The corresponding period in 2017 saw 185 cases, while 119 cases were recorded in 2016, 53 in 2015, and just 22 cases were reported in 2014.

To be sure, data for the corresponding period for years before 2014 was not available with HT on Monday.

An MCD spokesperson said the spike in cases can be largely attributed to heavy waterlogging observed in July as Delhi witnessed record rainfall which subsequently led to rise in mosquito breeding sites.