At least 11 dengue cases have been reported in Delhi this year even though the vector-borne disease is usually reported between July and November, a municipal report released on May 27 showed.


Last year, 2,798 dengue cases and four deaths were recorded by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates the data on vector-borne diseases in the city. According to the report, this year, three cases were reported in May, two in April, four in March and one each in February and January.

Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between July and November, but the period may stretch to mid-December. However, this year till May 25, eight cases of malaria -- seven in May and one in April -- and five cases of chikungunya -- two in February and one each in March, April and May -- have been recorded.

The dengue victims last year included a minor boy. Doctors have advised people to take precautions to ensure that there was no breeding of mosquito larvae around them and urged them to wear full-sleeves and use mosquito nets. Water coolers should be dried up when not in use as dengue infection-carrying mosquitoes breed there a lot, a doctor said.

Civic bodies had also recently organised a workshop on the prevention of vector-borne diseases. Mosquito-breeding has been reported in at least 11,957 households and 13,517 legal notices have been issued this year. Of the total number of dengue cases last year, as many as 141 were recorded in December, while 1,062 cases were reported in November and 1,114 in October, 374 in September, 58 in August, 19 in July, eight in June, 10 in May, two in April, one in March, three in February and six in January.

The rest of the cases were reported from areas outside the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations of Delhi. Also, 473 cases of malaria and 165 of chikungunya were reported last year. According to the SDMC, 10 people had died due to dengue in Delhi in 2017, of whom five were not residents of the national capital. Overall, the vector-borne disease had affected 9,271 people in the city that year.