Daily Times

Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) Secretary Irshad Ahmad said that 335 new dengue cases were reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that 158 dengue cases were reported in Lahore, 100 in Rawalpindi, 31 in Gujranwala, 13 in Multan and six in Attock, five each in Sheikhupura, Gujrat and Sialkot, four each in Sargodha and Bahawalpur, three each in Narowal, Bahawalnagar and Toba Tek Singh, two each in Kasur, Nankana Sahib, Sahiwal, Muzaffargarh and Lodhran, one each in Okara, Hafizabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhelum and Jhang.

He said that a total of 7,775 dengue virus cases had been reported so far during the current year, adding that one person died of dengue in Gujranwala during the last 24 hours while 10 people died of the virus in the current year so far. An anti-dengue squad conducted surveillance at 416,118 indoor and 101, 580 outdoor places to detect dengue larvae during the last 24 hours. The squad killed dengue larvae at 2,969 places in the province during daily surveillance. The secretary urged people to adopt precautionary measures and keep their environment clean and dry to protect themselves from dengue. As many as 109 more dengue cases were reported in Rawalpindi during the last 24 hours, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 2,721.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control (DCEPC), Dr Sajjad Mehmood, Wednesday said that, among the new cases, 35 patients had arrived from Potohar town urban area, 28 from Municipal Corporation, Rawalpindi, 23 from Rawalpindi Cantonment, 11 from Chaklala cantonment, nine from Potohar rural, two from Murree, and one of each from Kahuta, Kalar Syedan and Gujjar Khan. Dr Sajjad added that 243 patients were admitted to the city’s allied hospitals, including 95 to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 76 to the District Headquarters Hospital and 72 to the Holy Family Hospital (HFH).

He informed that out of the total admitted patients, 160 tested positive, with 127 belonging to Rawalpindi. The health official said that the district administration, in collaboration with allied departments, had registered 2,492 FIRs, sealed 589 premises, issued Challans to 7,323, notices to 10,160 and a fine of Rs 6,942,416 imposed on violations of dengue SOPs from January 1 to date. He said disease prevention was the government priority, and the district health administration worked day and night to avoid the possible infection outbreak.