 "A Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) employee fumigates near Hindu Rao Hospital in New Delhi. Photo: PTI")
At least 10,851 chikungunya cases have been reported in Delhi this season, with nearly 640 of them being recorded in the last week, according to a municipal report released on Monday.
Of the total chikungunya cases, nearly 720 of them have been reported in areas falling under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).
"As many as 10,851 suspected cases have been recorded this season till October 29, out of which 8,720 have been confirmed," the report by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said.
SDMC tabulates the data for vector-borne disease cases in the national capital on behalf of all the civic bodies here.
At least 10,210 suspected chikungunya cases were reported in the city till October 22.
As per the report, at least 3,650 dengue cases were reported in the national capital till October 29 this season. 3,333 cases were recorded till October 22.
Among the three corporations, 718 confirmed chikungunya cases have been reported in areas under NDMC, 638 under SDMC and 354 under EDMC this season.
3,395 cases have also been reported from areas falling outside the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations. And, 3,615 cases have been recorded from other states.
At least 15 fatalities have been reported at various hospitals in the city due to complications triggered by the chikungunya, though the civic bodies have kept the death tally at zero.
Delhi and other parts of north India are facing a spike in chikungunya cases after nearly 10 years. In 2006, over 13 lakh suspected cases of chikungunya were reported.
Dengue cases on the other hand, continued to taper down, with just 317 fresh cases reported in Delhi in the last one week. This month 1,517 cases have been recorded till October 29.
Last year, out of the 15,867 dengue cases, 7,283 were reported in October, the highest among all the month. Also, September last year had seen 6,775 cases but only 1,362 cases were reported this September.
At least 21 deaths due to dengue have been reported at various hospitals, including nine at AIIMS, though the civic bodies said only four persons died of the disease this season.
Experts say a "less virulent strain" of dengue virus is in circulation this year compared to the one last year or in 2010 when 6,259 cases and eight deaths were reported by SDMC.
1,477 cases were reported from areas falling outside the jurisdiction of municipal corporations in the city. 1,133 cases were reported to have originated from neighbouring areas outside of Delhi.
In NDMC area, breeding of mosquitoes was found in 62,690 houses, 84,943 houses in SDMC area and 22,930 in EDMC area. The number of prosecution launched in these areas was 5,000, 9,016 and 3,007 respectively.
In 1996, Delhi had recorded about 10,252 cases of dengue and 423 deaths, prompting the authorities to declare it a notifiable disease.
