Dengue devours 5 more, death toll 121

Showing no signs of abatement, dengue today claimed five more lives, all in Delhi, pushing the country-wide death count to 121 as the sudden drop in temperatures in the northern India raised hopes of a decline in the mosquito-borne viral illness.

With close to 320 more cases pouring in, the number of dengue-stricken patients across the country touched 6,740. Showers drenched many parts of northern region on Thursday morning plummeting mercury raising hopes of the deadly disease subsiding.

Aedes Aegypeti mosquitoes, responsible for the spread of dengue and chikungunya, could not survive in cold condition, P L Joshi, director of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, told PTI.

The death toll in Delhi mounted to 45, the highest in the country, with five

more succumbing to dengue since Wednesday evening. The number of dengue cases hovered around the 90-mark daily in the national capital in the past week even as the administration intensified efforts to tackle the menace.

As many as 1,820 cases had been reported in Delhi since the outbreak of the disease this season. Chandigarh, which was free of dengue in 2003 and 2004, reported 75 cases this year in sharp contrast to only two last year.

Forty-nine fresh cases poured in from Rajasthan, 40 from Kerala, 31 from West Bengal and 22 from Andhra Pradesh, the National Vector Brone Disease Control Programme said.

After Delhi, Uttar Pradesh reported 13 deaths, Rajasthan 11, Andhra Pradesh eight and Karnataka seven. Fatalities also occurred in Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.