Five-year-old dies of dengue in Kolkata

The toll due to dengue in West Bengal this year climbed to two with the death of a five-year old boy on Wednesday night, an official said.

The boy was admitted to the B.C. Roy Hospital on Monday with high fever.

"He died on Wednesday night," an official at the directorate of health services of West Bengal said

"The number of cases in Bengal this year is over 900. Around 300 cases have been diagnosed in and around Kolkata," said Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Malay Kumar De.

De said the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is taking several measures and the situation is under control.

"This is the peak season and so, there is a surge in the vector-borne disease, but there is nothing to be alarmed of," he said.

The health department has asked diagnostic laboratories to refrain from conducting the rapid test to detect dengue due to the possibility of false positive results. They have been asked to run the ELISA test.