The country may not be recovered yet when it comes to the novel coronavirus, but a common viral menace just popped up, said Punjab authorities.
The monsoon season in combination with authorities’ incapacity to carry out precautionary actions has sharp the danger of dengue outburst in Punjab, officials warned. Only this time, authorities are stimulating for an outburst five times worse than last year, they said.
“The novel coronavirus plague has dangerously affected dengue virus prevention,” admitted one official. “Since many sites, including government offices and private institutes, were closed on account of Covid-19, dengue-carrying mosquitoes have had ample space to breed,” he said.
“On top of that, our entire manpower and machinery has been focused on coronavirus prevention,” he added. “In the past four months, no purification activity has been carried out to avoid the possibility of a dengue outburst.”
Last year, more than 47,000 dengue cases have been reported from all four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir between the months of July and November. Even only in Punjab 9,700 cases were reported, 16 of which resulted in death.
Dr Yasmeen Rashid persuades the general public to do their part in avoiding possible outbreak of dengue by keeping their homes and neighborhoods clean. “In case anyone needs dengue-related information, they can call the health department hotline, she said.
