NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Hospitals in the Indian national capital New Delhi are witnessing a decline in dengue cases after witnessing a record surge of the vector-borne disease, officials said Sunday.
Health officials attributed the decline to the increasing cold weather in the city, as the number of dengue patients has declined by 50 percent.
"Earlier 100 to 150 people were reaching out patient department (OPD) daily. Now, this number has come down to 50," said Dr. Suresh Kumar, medical director at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital.
"With the drop in temperature in the coming days, dengue will be completely under control."
This year the tally of dengue cases in Delhi rose to 7,127, the highest since 2015 as per Delhi's civic body, while 5,600 of those have been recorded until Nov. 20.
In November, hospitals in Delhi received dozens of dengue cases on a daily basis, more than the COVID-19 infections. The local government directed hospital authorities to use the beds reserved for COVID-19 patients to treat dengue cases.
At least 10 people have died of the disease in the Indian capital, the highest number of fatalities due to dengue in the city since 2017.
Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease transmitted by female mosquitoes, has rapidly spread in all regions in recent years.
Health experts said those who become infected with the virus a second time are at a significantly greater risk of developing a severe disease. It causes fever, body ache, nausea, vomiting, and internal bleeding or a fatal drop in blood pressure in severe cases.
Cases of the mosquito-borne viral infection have seen a sudden spike towards the end of the monsoon season this year. During the past two weeks, about 250 to 300 patients with fever visited hospitals, with 70 to 80 percent of them being dengue cases.
Officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi said efforts were made to prevent dengue, including constant fogging in areas where mosquitoes were breeding, but people still need to stay alerted.
According to a federal health ministry until November, a total of 116,991 dengue cases were reported across the country.
Earlier this month, the health ministry rushed high-level teams of experts to a number of states to provide technical guidance and formulate public health measures to manage dengue outbreaks. Enditem