NEW DELHI: While doctors claimed that the falling mercury in the Capital had resulted in a decline in the number of dengue cases, the death toll in Delhi continued to rise on Friday and was up to 46 with three more persons succumbing to the virus during the past 24 hours.

Also 88 fresh cases have been registered in Delhi taking the total number of cases registered so far to 1,908.

While 23-year-old Gullu of Sangam Vihar area in South Delhi died at AIIMS, Gopi Chand (68) from Shahdara and Rajni Kumari (15) of Ghaziabad died in Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.

"Gopichand, who had tested positive for dengue, was also suffering from cirrhosis, while Rajani was brought in with Dengue Shock Syndrome,'' said RML Medical Superintendent N. K. Chaturvedi.

Speaking about the situation at AIIMS, Medical Superintendent D.K. Sharma said: "We have admitted 36 new patients of the mosquito-borne disease while another 170 patients have been kept under observation.

Also, with the temperature dropping we are seeing a fall in the number of patients coming here, which has allowed us to resume normal academic, teaching and research work that were suspended till now.''

"We would try and resume normal services from Monday and revert the extra staff including doctors and interns brought in for dengue duty back to their `home' departments. The process will start from Monday. Also we are hoping to catch up on our backlog and start admitting other routine patients,'' he added.

Meanwhile, cautioning the people against over-indulging in firecrackers on Diwali to get rid of mosquitoes, senior Municipal Corporation of Delhi officer N.K. Yadav said: "There is no research suggesting that the smoke will work against the mosquitoes. It will, however, add to the pollution levels which is bad for human health.''

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail