Delhi: Suspected Dengue death at Max Hospital, authorities seek more details

New Delhi: A 16-year-old Delhi girl, suspected to be suffering from dengue, has died here, officials and hospital sources said on Sunday. A resident of East Kidwai Nagar housing complex, she was admitted to Max Hospital here and was running fever for the last 8-10 days, officials said.

"Today, an information was received from area inspector regarding the death of a young girl of 16 years, a resident of E-1 type-3 tower 16 of East Kidwai Nagar complex here," a senior official of the Delhi health department said.

However, it has not been confirmed if the fatality was due to dengue, the official said. Max Hospital sources said the girl was a suspected dengue case. Further details from the hospital was awaited.

As the relatives of the patient were not available, the hospital papers could not be accessed, officials said.

More than 1500 families are residing in various towers of East Kidwai Nagar complex.

The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) is responsible for cleaning, sweeping, collecting garbage and carrying out anti-malarial and anti-larval activities at the complex.

Less than 1100 cases of dengue and no deaths due to the mosquito-borne disease have been reported so far this year in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.

In a video message posted on Twitter, he said this was an achievement in comparison to 2015 when over 15,000 dengue cases had been recorded and 60 people had died in the national capital.

Kejriwal lauded the residents' efforts in following the '10-hafte, 10-baje, 10-minute' campaign launched by him on September 1.

It required people to look for stagnant water in and around their homes for 10 minutes at 10 am every Sunday for 10 weeks and dispose it of to prevent breeding of mosquito larvae. Several Bollywood actors, filmmakers, sportspersons and senior journalists have supported the campaign.

Till November 2 this year, at least 1,069 cases of dengue were reported in the national capital.

As per a report released on November 4 by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), the number of malaria cases recorded till November 2 were 617.

Of the total dengue cases, there were 787 in October, the highest in any month so far this year, while in the same month 249 malaria cases were also recorded, according to the report.

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It said that at least 143 cases of chikungunya have also been reported this year.

Last year, 2,798 dengue cases and four deaths were recorded by the SDMC. It had also reported 473 cases of malaria and 165 cases of chikungunya.

Both the Delhi government and local bodies have been making efforts to raise awareness about precautions to ensure that there is no breeding of mosquito larvae. Dengue mosquito larvae breed in clear, standing water, while those of malaria thrive even in dirty water.

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