Hospitals in the city are flooded with patients, with many being forced to share beds.

With 1,057 cases of chikungunya reported over the last week and the first fatality on Monday, the dengue-chikungunya outbreak has reached an alarming scale in Delhi and NCR, affecting attendance in city schools and offices.

This was reflected in the challans issued on Monday by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to buildings feared as breeding grounds for the vector-borne diseases. Schools and hospitals topped the challan list.

This season is particularly bad. In the last few weeks, we have seen a steady dip in our class attendance as every week a few students report sick due to virus-related illness,?? Usha Ram, associate director, DPS World Schools, told Mail Today.

FEVER GOES VIRAL

This is also a period when most schools in the city are gearing up for internal examinations. Several school authorities that Mail Today contacted said they were taking strict precautions to deal with the outbreak. Regular advisory is being issued to the parents to follow required measures,?? said

Ashok Pandey, principal, Ahlcon International School in east Delhi. This is the peak season and we are taking all possible steps to keep our students safe.?? Pandey said on an average, one or two children were reporting sick every week. Those who are diagnosed with high fever are advised to stay at home so that no more children in the school are infected with the virus.??

Ameeta Wattal, principal, Springdales school at Pusa road said all the students who have fallen sick will be given a chance to re-appear for the examinations.

The school is taking all precautions to keep the surrounding clean. The fumigation is happening every afternoon and students have been advised to wear full-sleeve shirts and pants so that their body parts are not exposed to the mosquitoes,?? Wattal said.

Meanwhile, 24 educational institutions were served notices by south and north MCD on Monday for not following required safety measure on their premises. These included two departments of Indian Institute of technology (IIT), Zakir Hussain College, nursing college, Central schools, municipal schools, Cambridge Public School (Lajpat Nagar) and Notre Dame School.

The caretaker of these properties will have to appear before the magistrate and they can be penalised up to Rs 5,000 and weekly inspections are followed up to ensure that they are maintaining cleanliness and thus preventing the scope for the mosquitoes to breed,?? said an MCD official.

In all, the MCD listed 86 new sites for being mosquito-breeding spots. The maximum cases have been cited in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). Around eight hospitals and health centres were served challans, including MCD-run Hindu Rao Hospital, Jamia Unani Hospital and CRPF Hospital.



CHIKUNGUNYA CASES ON THE RISE

A 65-year-old man succumbed to chikungunya on Monday at Sir Ganga Ram hospital in west Delhi, the first reported casualty of the viral disease. R Pandey, a resident of Ghaziabad was admitted to the hospital on Saturday in a critical state and was admitted to ICU ward.

Pandey who died early on Monday was infected with chikungunya with sepsis. The viral counts of the patient were high. He was shifted from Yashoda hospital in Ghaziabad to our hospital in an extremely critical state,?? said a spokesperson of Sir Ganga Ram hospital.

Delhi government officials said they had prepared a list of sensitive areas in Delhi where high level of breeding was found last year. The list included many government hospitals like Babu Jagjivan Ram hospital, AIIMS, Safdarjung hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and National Chest Institute.

All these areas have been identified under the sites which need special care. We are conducting regular awareness programmes and insisting on continuous fumigation in these areas. We are focusing more on preventive measures this year,?? said Dr SM Raheja, additional director general of health services (ADGHS), Delhi government. This year, Delhi and NCR is witnessing more cases of chikungunya as compared to the previous year.

While 1,158 cases of dengue have been reported so far this year, the national capital has reported 1,057 cases of chikungunya in 2016. Last year, Delhi reported 64 cases of chikungunya. Cases of dengue have also increased sharply, with 387 cases reported this month, a rise of over 50 per cent, according to a municipal report released on Monday.

Also read: First chikungunya death recorded in Delhi: 65-year-old dies at Ganga Ram Hospital

