Dengue cases drop in city as mercury slides

The incidence of dengue in the national capital has seen a decline with a drop in the mercury in recent days as only about 230 cases of the disease were reported in the last one week, MCD officials said today.
Officials are ascribing the decline to the onset of cooler temperatures as such conditions are not conducive to the growth of the dengue-causing aedes mosquito.
"As winter sets in and temperatures fall, the environment will become less conducive for the larval growth of mosquitoes.
"Winter also means people will cover their body from head to toe, so chances of getting bitten gets reduced," North Delhi Municipal Corporation PRO Yogendra Singh Mann said today.

Although any rise in temperatures from here onwards may again lead to a resurgence in larval growth, cases of dengue could only continue to slide if the mercury keeps dropping, Mann added.
A total of 4,902 cases have been reported so far in the city compared to 4,671 cases reported till November 4, said a report released yesterday by MCD.

NDMC alone has seen over 2,000 cases with Rohini Zone accounting for more than 900 of those, the highest for all zones.
While the official MCD death tally stands at six, the number of suspected dengue deaths have now increased to 10, the report said.

The capital had witnessed over 6,000 dengue cases in 2010. In 2011, 1,100 cases were reported while last year saw 2,093 patients afflicted with dengue.
While the figures this year for the various corporations are - North (2,019), South (1,440) and East (1,255), 101 cases were reported from regions in Delhi outside the jurisdiction of MCD. Thirty cases were recorded in other category. A total of 57 cases were reported from other states.