At least 11 more dengue fever patients died in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday, as the number of people infected with the virus reached 6,000 in Punjab according to an official count. On Friday, 607 new patients were tested positive for dengue in different private and public health establishments of Lahore.
Dengue also infected prisoners in two jails of Lahore, including Kot Lakhpat Jail and Camp Jail. According to reports, six people died in Punjab in the last 24 hours because of the dengue virus. Briefing journalists, Punjab Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem said that the Sri Lankan team had collected samples from the Canal, Gulberg, Race Course Park, Services and Sir Ganga Ram hospitals to detect the presence of dengue in these places.
It was confirmed from the analysis of the samples from hospitals that despite sprays and fumigation, dengue carrier mosquitoes were breeding there and had also affected people coming to these hospitals. The Sri Lankan team also met Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif and said that there were no short cut measures to control the epidemic. According to sources, the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) had sealed 3,000 litres of insecticide chemical purchased by company Ad Grow after it was found substandard but chemicals from the same company were purchased this year again.
Separately, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department said 125 suspected cases were reported in the province of which 48 were confirmed. According to details, 14 were confirmed in Abbottabad, 11 in Haripur, 10 in Mansehra, 4 in Peshawar, 2 each in Bannu and Mardan and one each in Batagram, Lakki Marwat, Nowshera and Khyber Agency. Five people have so far died from dengue, including 3 in Haripur and one each in Mansehra and Nowshera, respectively.
In another development, the number of dengue patients in Karachi has reached 204.
