ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials said on Thursday they had allocated more beds for dengue patients at various medical facilities as the country’s federal capital and Punjab province witness a major outbreak of the disease.
According to the official data compiled by the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, the total number of infections has crossed 27,000 in the aforementioned regions, leading to the death of over 100 people, as the relevant Pakistani authorities struggle to contain the growing epidemic.
The country has witnessed periodic outbreaks of dengue fever since 2010, as per official statistics, resulting in 22,938 confirmed dengue cases in 2017, over 3,200 cases in 2018, 24,547 cases in 2019, and 3,442 cases in 2020.
Islamabad and Punjab have been facing a continuous rise in the number of infections this year since October 8, putting significant pressure on public and private hospitals.
The Punjab has reported a total of 22,616 cases until now, with 105 related deaths across the province.
Lahore, the provincial capital, has become the epicenter of the disease where 16,476 cases were reported until Thursday.
According to official statistics, a total of 1,487 dengue patients have been admitted in the province’s public hospitals while 1,010 of them have only been admitted in Lahore.
Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Punjab Imran Sikandar Baloch said the provincial government had allocated 5,173 beds in the public hospitals for the treatment of dengue patients while 1,487 of them had been occupied.
“The number of beds is being increased on a daily basis in teaching hospitals of Lahore to facilitate dengue patients,” he said, adding that health department teams checked 319,587 indoor places on Wednesday to control the breeding of dengue mosquitoes.
In the last 24 hours, a total of 306 dengue cases were reported in Punjab, including 225 in Lahore, 21 in Rawalpindi, 18 in Gujranwala, four each in Kasur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha and Sheikhupura, three each in Attock, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad and Narowal and two patients each in Gujrat and Chiniot.
Likewise, Islamabad has reported 4,421 dengue cases so far from its urban and rural areas since October 8 while the district administration has been carrying out indoor residual spray and fogging in different areas to prevent the spread of the disease.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection, found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. Its prevention depends on effective vector control measures.
There is no specific treatment for the disease, according to World Health Organization. However, early detection of the disease and access to proper medical care lowers the fatality rate to less than one percent.
The global incidence of dengue has grown dramatically in the recent decades as about half of the world’s population is now at risk of it. There are an estimated 100-400 million dengue infections each year across the globe, say the WHO data.
Dr. Javed Akram, vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences Lahore, said dengue was a viral and vector-borne disease, adding it would therefore take time to subside.
“The virus will diminish automatically by mid-January with the fall in temperatures,” he told Arab News. “People should exercise prevention and care to deal with it as there is no proven medical treatment for the disease so far.”
Dengue outbreak grips Pakistan’s federal capital, Punjab province
https://arab.news/m5xrq
Dengue outbreak grips Pakistan’s federal capital, Punjab province
- According to official data, Punjab has reported over 22,000 cases with 105 deaths across the province
- Health experts say the disease will automatically subside when temperatures fall by mid-January
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
