With dengue fever taking two more lives over the past 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh, the toll on account of the deadly virus in the country's most populous and poverty-ridden state has gone up to six.
"A six-year-old child, who was brought from Sitapur district to the medical university in Lucknow, succumbed to the dengue virus on Friday, while another child met his end in the Farrukhabad district hospital early Saturday," Dr V S Nigam, spokesman of the health department told this scribe.
He said, "The total number of dengue cases had shot up to 199 in the state following detection of 40 new cases over the past 24 hours." Certain districts of Western UP, bordering Delhi were stated to be the worst-hit.
The maximum number of cases were reported from Noida (44), followed by Lucknow-(37), Ghaziabad (29) and Muzaffarnagar (20), among other places.
Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognisance of the spread of the disease, the Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the state administration to submit a detailed report on the state of dengue latest by October 22.
"The court has also asked us to issue directives to all district magistrates, municipalities as well as panchayats to ensure all preventive and curative measures in place throughout the state, state principal health secretary Arun Kumar Misra said.
Carried by aedes mosquito, the dengue virus has typical symptoms -- high fever accompanied with acute pain in joints and eyes. "It may not be as deadly or fatal like Japanese Encephalitis, but still is a matter of serious concern for us." said Misra, adding, "We have ordered fogging in all mosquito-prone areas and hope to contain the virus soon."
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