KARACHI: Three women and a man died of dengue fever on Tuesday as the death toll owing to the viral disease rose to 25 across Sindh this year, setting off alarm bells in the quarters concerned, as the province has so far registered more than 8,700 dengue cases this year, officials and sources said.

The fresh deaths were reported in private hospitals where 82-year-old resident of DHA Sarfaraz Hussain, 35-year-old Afshan Asif of Gulberg, 57-year-old Gulnar Begum of Gulbahar and Saeeda Khatoon, 50, of North Karachi died during treatment.

“With the fresh numbers, the total count of deaths due to dengue fever stands at 25 this year,” said a source citing recently-compiled data of the provincial authorities. “A total of 8,707 cases have been registered this year and a large number of people returned home after treatment in different districts of the province. Most of the dengue patients have emerged in Karachi, where 5,137 people tested positive this month alone.”

The Pakistan Medical Association has expressed concern over the rising dengue cases in the country.

“Cases of confirmed dengue virus have been reported in thousands in all the four provinces. The situation is very alarming and we had already warned the authorities to take preventive measures to control dengue,” the PMA had said recently.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2019