ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday ordered that dengue prevention standard operating procedures be “strictly” implemented, with at least nine cases reported so far in the Pakistani capital ahead of the monsoon season that starts next week.
There is currently no cure or vaccine for dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes and in its most severe form can lead to death. Dengue fever often results in intense flu-like symptoms, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, full-body aches, high fever, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands and rashes.
This year’s first dengue-related death was reported on June 3 in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
“The anti-dengue plan formulated should be implemented diligently,” the interior minister was quoted in a statement as telling the chairman of the Capital Development Authority and the Islamabad chief commissioner on Saturday. “Ensure rapid drainage of rainwater from low-lying areas.”
The CDA chairman informed Naqvi an anti-dengue working group was being established in the boundary areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and the administrations of the two cities would work “as a team” for dengue prevention.
Dengue fever is endemic to Pakistan, which experiences year-round transmission with seasonal peaks.
An advisory published by Pakistan’s National Institute of Health in 2023 said a total of 52,929 cases and 224 deaths from dengue were reported in the country in 2021, while there were approximately 79,007 confirmed cases of dengue with 149 deaths in 2022, with the surge in cases following unprecedented flooding that began in mid-June 2022. In 2023, Pakistan reported 3,019 suspected cases and 8 deaths from dengue.
Nine cases have so far been reported in Islamabad, according to the Islamabad chief commissioner.
The virus has been surging worldwide, helped by climate change. In barely six months, countries in the Americas have already broken calendar-year records for dengue cases.
The World Health Organization declared an emergency in December, and Puerto Rico declared a public health emergency in March.
Dengue remains less common in the continental United States, but in the 50 states so far this year there have been three times more cases than at the same point last year.
Pakistan orders ‘strict’ implementation of anti-dengue plan ahead of monsoons next week
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Pakistan orders ‘strict’ implementation of anti-dengue plan ahead of monsoons next week
- Nine dengue cases reported in capital city, Islamabad chief commissioner says
- First dengue-related death reported on June 3 in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province
Pakistan police, security forces kill 12 militants in separate operations
- The operations were conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak, Balochistan’s Kalat districts
- The country is currently battling twin insurgencies in both provinces that border Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s police and security forces have gunned down 12 militants in separate operations in two western provinces that border Afghanistan, authorities said on Sunday.
Police launched an operation in a mountainous area of Karak district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, following reports of militant presence, according to Karak police spokesman Shaukat Khan.
The operation resulted in the killing of at least eight militants, while several others were wounded in the exchange of fire with law enforcers. Karak police chief Saud Khan led the heavy police contingent alongside personnel from intelligence agencies.
“Several militant hideouts located in the mountainous terrain between Kohat and Karak districts were dismantled during the operation,” Khan told Arab News on Sunday evening, adding the operation was still ongoing.
Separately, security forces killed four “Indian-sponsored” separatist militants in an intelligence-based operation in Kalat district of the southwestern Balochistan province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored terrorist found in the area.”
Pakistan, which has been facing a surge in militancy, has long accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
