New Delhi: Even before the peak dengue season has hit, which are the months of September and October, a huge rise in the number of cases of the vector-borne disease has triggered widespread concern in several parts of the country. Till June this year, the country recorded 32,091 dengue cases, 75 percent higher than the 18,391 cases recorded in the first six months in 2023, the Union health ministry told Parliament last week. In a statement, Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra said that till the month of July, India had seen 50 percent more cases than the corresponding period last year.
“Although dengue cases generally peak in October (after the monsoon), this year’s trend shows that, as of 31 July, 2024, the number of cases is already almost 50 percent higher than at the same time last year,” Chandra said. The highest number of dengue cases, which can be fatal in severe cases, has been in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “The alarming numbers have pushed us to hold three inter-ministerial reviews of the outbreak in the country so far, in order to review state-level preparedness and to bolster readiness of public health systems,” a senior ministry official told ThePrint.
Dengue is a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes, mainly aedes aegypti that also spreads pathogens which cause zika and chikungunya fever. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about half of the world’s population.