Dengue Fever

22 more confirmed cases of dengue reported from Tarnol

By Muhammad Qasim

Islamabad: A dengue fever outbreak that started hitting population in various vicinities falling in Union Council Tarnol of the federal capital has continued its spread though the number of cases reported everyday has been showing downward trend for the last 72 hours.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday has revealed that as many as 22 confirmed cases of dengue fever have been reported from Tarnol in last four days taking the total number of confirmed patients so far reported from the affected area to 154.

The data also reveals that in last four days, a total of 35 confirmed patients of the infection have been reported from various localities in the federal capital taking total number of patients so far reported from Islamabad to 201.

Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department claimed that the disease has been contained within the limits of the affected area and no other union council has been affected by the spread of the infection in Tarnol.

Tirelessly, efforts have been made to control spread of the infection in Tarnol by putting in huge manpower and diverting all resources, said Additional District Health Officer at ICT Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

He added the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat is personally supervising the surveillance campaign launched in Tarnol to contain the infection and has arranged vehicle mounted fogger from DC Rawalpindi for fogging activity in the affected localities.

He said the DC Islamabad has also directed Police department to lodge FIRs against those operating in open junkyards and tyre shops that certainly provides room to mosquitoes for breeding. The concerned authorities serving under CDA have also been directed to remove solid waste from the affected union council, said Dr. Durrani.

Terming the DC’s timely action as a great help to the ICT Health Department, he said Additional DC Dr. Asif Rahim has been monitoring the field activities being carried out in the affected area to contain the disease. As many as 10 teams comprising sanitary inspectors, malaria inspectors and sanitary patrols are carrying out activities for outdoor surveillance, he added.

It is important that to date, a total of 201 confirmed cases of dengue fever have been reported from Islamabad of which as many as 170 are from rural areas while 19 are from urban areas of the federal capital. Another 12 patients are residents of other districts though serving in Islamabad.

To a query, he said the ICT Health Department has stopped indoor surveillance in Tarnol. Earlier well over 75 teams of lady health workers were deployed for door-to-door visits in Tarnol area for larvae identification and elimination along with educating public on how to avoid dengue fever but now the LHWs got busy in carrying out activities under the on-going national measles campaign, he said.