New Delhi : The city has registered 650 new cases of dengue and 48 new cases of chikungunya this week causing a sharp spike in the number of cases registered in the city, according to a municipal report released on Monday.
The total number of dengue and chikungunya cases now stands at 5,870 and 731 respectively.
The number of dengue cases reported this month till October 21 stands at 1,077.
Five deaths due to dengue have been reported so far, including two at the Lok Nayak (LNJP) Hospital in central Delhi.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates data for the entire city, however, has not acknowledged the fatalities at the LNJP Hospital, and kept the official toll at three.
The vector-borne disease claimed its first victim in the city this year when a 12-year-old boy died of dengue shock syndrome at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) on August 1.
Of the total 5,870 dengue cases, 2,884 were residents of Delhi, while the rest were from other States. Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between mid-July and November-end. This year, however, cases were seen much earlier.
The number of malaria and chikungunya cases recorded in the city till the third week of October stood at 1,073 and 731 respectively, the report said.
Last year, as per the civic bodies, the official dengue death toll stood at 10, while 17 deaths were suspected to be due to malaria.
At least 15 fatalities were reported due to complications triggered by chikungunya, though civic authorities kept the death tally at zero. One of the worst outbreaks of chikungunya was in 2016 when 12,221 cases were reported till December 24, 2016.
