PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

BATTLE ON HAND: A woman takes her dengue-afflicted daughter into the AIIMS in New Delhi on Saturday. Union Health Secretary P.K. Hota said the situation was serious but had not gone out of hand. "All major hospitals are equipped to handle the rush of patients. There are enough beds, medical supplies, blood and platelets," he told journalists.

NEW DELHI: After a day's respite, the death toll in the dengue outbreak in the capital rose to 21, with three more patients — Usman Ghani (42) of Gandhinagar in Delhi, Najma (42) from Gautam Buddha Nagar and Angoori Devi (45) from Haryana — dying in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Saturday.

The city hospitals continued to admit dengue afflicted patients. Eighty new cases reported for admission, taking the number of registered cases to 825. Several cases remain unreported as patients are also taken to private hospitals.

18 States affected

(According to PTI, dengue has spread to 18 States, claiming 47 lives and afflicting 3,331 people.)

Of the 44 new patients admitted to the AIIMS during the past 24 hours, five are from the campus.

"Currently, we have 144 patients under treatment for dengue, of whom 32 are from the hospital premises. Thirteen people have been discharged in the past 24 hours," AIIMS Medical Superintendent D.K. Sharma said.

With the large influx of `suspected' dengue cases, the medical infrastructure in AIIMS has been strained. "We are taking in only emergency patients as the hospital is struggling to keep pace with the load. Only those who need emergency medical attention are being admitted. There is a manpower and resource crunch as other hospitals continue to refer dengue patients to us," an AIIMS official said.

Adding to the dengue panic, three out of 28 samples taken from Delhi tested positive for chikungunya, the Union Health Ministry said. All three patients have a history of travelling to places where chikungunya is rampant, a Ministry official said.

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