At least 50 people, including children, have died in the past two weeks because of dengue and viral fever in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad. Four children died on Friday.

Some reports have put the toll at 75.

Chief medical officer Dinesh Kumar Premi in a statement said: ‘So far, 50 people have died due to dengue and viral fever. Ten areas — nine blocks and a Nagar Nigam area — in the district are affected.”

About 40 deaths were reported till August 30 when chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited the district and claimed that he had asked the officers to take immediate measures.

On Thursday, the state government suspended Dr Girish Srivastava, in-charge of Sailai Public Health Centre (PHC). Other doctors of the PHC who were suspended include Dr Saurabh Prakash and Dr Ruchi Yadav.

“They were suspended for dereliction of duty,” said Chandra Vijay Singh, district magistrate of Firozabad.

Family members of the deceased said the toll might be higher as hospitals across the district had been denying treatment because of lack of infrastructure.

“I kept roaming from one hospital to the other in the district and none was ready to admit my son. They would say that Mana, 10, was suffering from a mysterious fever. When I told them that he might have dengue, they said they didn’t have any means to test what caused the fever. Then I took my son to Agra where he died at a private hospital. I still don’t know what kind of fever he had,” said Kuldeep Singh of Humayunpurva Pathwari area in the district.

Health department sources in Lucknow claimed that while the number of deaths was highest in Firozabad, many have died of dengue or other fever in Mainpuri, Etawah, Agra and Kasganj districts.

Adityanath during his visit had said: “Thirty-two children and seven adults have died here. I have asked the health department to find out whether it was because of dengue or any other disease.”

“We send the samples to Sarojini Naidu Medical College, Agra, for test and it takes seven to eight days to get the reports. Some of the patients were found suffering from dengue but in many cases, it was not detected,” said a senior health department officer in Lucknow.