Kolkata’s Bidhannagar area sees 2nd dengue death this year, 69-yr-old succumbs to disease
Times of India | 3 November 2024
123 Kolkata: A 69-year-old resident of the Gopalpur Sarat Pally area under Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Ward 4 — close to Baguiati — Shibani Das died of dengue on Saturday. This is the second dengue death in the BMC area of Salt Lake and Rajarhat Gopalpur this year. A few months back, a 60-year-old resident of Kaikhali had also succumbed to the vector-borne disease.
There has been no recorded dengue death in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area this year so far. Some private hospitals, however, said they have had patients succumbing to comorbidities after testing positive for dengue. Peerless Hospital had two such deaths in the last three months, while Manipal witnessed one.
According to the medical certificate issued by the private hospital off VIP Road on Saturday, Das was admitted to the hospital on Oct 31 with fever. She died on Saturday at 10.12 am. The cause of her death has been mentioned as ‘sepsis and dengue haemorrhagic fever.' Das also had hypertension and type-II diabetes.
Civic officials said compared to the last two years when severe dengue outbreaks occurred across Salt Lake and Rajarhat Gopalpur, dengue cases had been fewer this year. As per figures available with the BMC, until last Thursday, the total dengue tally this year stands at 246. Last year, around this time, close to 3,500 cases had already been reported.
BMC recorded 138 dengue cases last month, the highest month-wise this year. Out of this, 36 fresh dengue cases were reported last week, which is the second-highest weekly case count this year. The previous three corresponding weeks recorded 30, 37, and 35 dengue cases.
Officials said the present trend of over 30 weekly cases is likely to recede in the coming weeks as the temperature is slated to slide down with no immediate forecast of rain. Precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of dengue had been taken up in advance this year, officials added. Intensive cleaning and larvicide spraying work is ongoing, along with the release of guppy fish in waterbodies.
Last year, BMC areas recorded 3,956 dengue cases, the second highest in recent times. Officials claimed that the total number of dengue cases is expected to remain below the 500-mark this year.