The number of fresh dengue infections in Kolkata went up by over 1,200 in the past week, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
The sharp increase — more than the rise in each of the past two weeks — is a clear indication that the dengue threat is far from over.
Civic officials said their experience has shown that dengue infections remain high during September and October.
An official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said more dengue cases have been reported from the city so far this year compared with the corresponding period last year.
The official, however, did not share the number of dengue cases reported in the corresponding period last year.
According to figures shared by Hakim in the previous two weeks, 977 fresh dengue cases were reported in the week from September 22 to 29. The figure was 1,102 in the week from September 15 till 22.
“The number of dengue infections in Kolkata (since January) stands at 6,055 this week,” Hakim said on Friday. “Over the past week, 1,276 fresh dengue cases have been reported in Kolkata.”
The figures that Hakim disclosed were only for the Kolkata municipal area. The state health department has yet to disclose any figure on the number of dengue infections in Bengal, though the count is rising in many districts.
The KMC, too, did not share the number of dengue infections officially till
Hakim started announcing the weekly numbers three weeks ago.
A number of dengue deaths have been reported from across the city, but neither the KMC nor the state health department has disclosed how many people have died of dengue this year.
Bengal, in the grip of one of the deadliest outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease, has kept relevant figures under wraps, The Telegraph has earlier reported.
The state health department fears releasing the data would trigger “unnecessary” panic.
Public health experts, however, have said that people cooperate only when they are given the real picture. So data transparency is very important.
In a meeting held last month, chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi had asked all municipal bodies in the state to initiate legal action against the owners of the premises where mosquito-breeding sites were found.
The state government has also asked municipal bodies to focus more on reducing sources of mosquito breeding. The dengue virus is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito.
The website of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says “the best preventive measure for areas infested with Aedes mosquito is to eliminate the mosquitoes’ egg laying sites — called source reduction”.
It adds: “Lowering the number of eggs, larvae and pupae will reduce the number of emerging adult mosquitoes and the transmission of the disease.”
KMC sources said multiple properties, belonging to the state government as well as the Centre, have turned into mosquito-breeding sites.
Kolkata and North 24-Parganas are among the districts from where a large number of dengue cases have been reported. In the last 11 days, at least six dengue patients have died in Kolkata, Bidhannagar and the South Dum Dum municipal area.
Dengue claims 3 more
Two women and a man, from Bongaon in North 24-Parganas and Bhangar in South 24-Parganas, died of dengue in two hospitals in Kolkata on Friday.
Sima Biswas, 40, from Bardhanberia in Bongaon, died at AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake.
“Sima was admitted on August 11 and was on ventilation for the last 20 days,” said an official at the hospital.
Fatema Bibi, 56, and Sanjay Roy, 34, both from Bhangar, died at the Infectious Disease and Beleghata General Hospital. Hospital officials said both had co-morbidities.
Sima’s death comes within three days of a 58-year-old woman from a locality in the South Dum Dum municipal area, also in North 24-Parganas, dying of septic shock syndrome.
“Eleven of the 16 municipal areas that have been identified as extremely dangerous for rapid spread of dengue are in North 24-Parganas,” said a senior official in the health department.
“The rising number of dengue cases in the district cropped up during a meeting on dengue preparedness, presided over by the chief secretary, last Saturday.”
Officials said the rural blocks of Bongaon, Habra and Guma in North 24-Parganas reported the maximum number of dengue cases.