Daily Times

Just when the government and the people had their hands full with the coronavirus pandemic, dengue fever is also staging an unwelcome comeback. There’s already been a major outbreak in KB, the Punjab health minister has had to issue a warning, and if experience has taught us anything other provinces would also not be far behind in raising the alarm. This is very unfortunate because not only are hospitals already overwhelmed, but dengue patients now will also run the rusk of contracting Covid while they languish in emergency and recovery wards, waiting for their platelets to recover.

Mercifully, dengue fever does not need the kind of pre-emptive measures that Covid does, nor is it contagious. All people really need to do is avoid outside exposure at certain times of the day to minismise the chances of being stung by the special mosquitos that carry the dengue virus. However, we have seen in the past how quickly this, too, can get out of control and even bring the medical infrastructure near collapse.

This is also the time for the government to improve its act. Last time dengue caused so much trouble precisely because the government of the time did not work hard enough when it was still in its early stages, which meant that it had to do a lot of extra work later on and still look bad. It’s good for the health minister of one province in the country to issue a stern warning, but the situation demands a lot more urgency. The government must build a national narrative immediately and make sure that citizens follow the advice handed out to them; for their own benefit.

The last thing the country needs right now is the outbreak of another epidemic. So far we have done a rather fine job of dealing with the coronavirus. We must now exhibit the same discipline and foresight and make sure that dengue does not cause unnecessary alarm of harm. *