RAWALPINDI: As the number of dengue cases had come down from around 80 to 20 patients daily due to weather conditions, the residents were asked to be careful as dengue larvae breeding could take place inside the houses because of the temperature suitable for its survival.

Chief Executive Officer of District Health Authority Dr Faiza Kanwal informed APP that around 20 to 25 patients had been brought to the allied hospitals of the city during last 24 hours, while earlier, the number of daily patients were 70 to 80.

“This year, around 3200 dengue cases were brought to the three public sector hospitals of the city so far, of which 2222 were Rawalpindi’s residents while the number of cases was 17 in 2020 and 6193 in 2019,” she added. Dr Faiza said that as many as 3140 patients were discharged after treatment from the allied hospitals while 274 beds were available to deal with the dengue patients, including 175 at Holy Family Hospital, 69 in District Headquarters hospital and 30 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

During the ongoing anti-dengue drive from January 1 to November 12, the CEO told that the authority had sealed 380 premises, registered FIRs against 273, Challaned 885, notices issued to 1814 and a fine of Rs 905,500 imposed on violations of SOPs in various district areas.

She added that anti-dengue teams visited 5680 sites out of the total identified 7580 hotspots from November 8 to 13, and required case response activities were carried out there.

“Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes mosquito,” adding it was not a life-threatening disease. Still, it can cause severe life-threatening complications if not treated properly.

“If you have a high-grade fever of 3-10 days duration with associated symptoms like headache, muscle and joint pains, retro-orbital pain (pain behind the eyeballs) and skin rash, then you need to get yourself checked”, the CEO added.