Delhi sees rise in dengue, mosquito breeding cases

With 18 days of rain in August and above-normal monsoon rains in Delhi, which has led to several instances of water-logging, civic authorities have reported a noted increase in instances of mosquito breeding with the number of dengue cases in the city already past the 500-mark, officials have said.
Domestic mosquito breeding trackers and field staff of civic authorities have so far detected mosquito breeding and larvae at more than 61,000 sites across the city.
The rising number of breeding spots, officials warned, is largely due to the lax attitude of city residents, who appear undeterred by the low fines being imposed.
In 2023, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) halted the release of weekly reports tracking vector-borne diseases on August 7, whereby Delhi had registered 308 cases of dengue.
A senior MCD official said that the final report is compiled on Monday, and the total number of dengue cases reported so far this year currently stands at around 500.
“The number of cases is around 500 and mosquito breeding reports show that the House Index (hundred times the ratio of the number of premises with positive mosquito breeding over the total house inspected) is around 5-6%. There has been a lot of rain in August, and during our special drives, we have found that institutions, police stations, bus depots, parks, nurseries and office complexes have not removed breeding spots in the form of stagnant water,” the official cited above said.
Traditionally, the house index is one of the key assessment parameters in mosquito-capturing exercises.
The geographical distribution of the 61,000 positive breeding sites shows that maximum sites have been detected in Shahdara South zone of east Delhi with 14,020 sites followed by West zone 9,436 sites, Central zone with 5,867 sites, Shahdara North zone with 5,854 sites, South zone with 5,072 sites, Civil Lines zone with 4,467.
In the middle spectrum, Najafgarh has reported 3,601 sites, Karol Bagh with 3,552, and Keshavpuram with 3,255. Least mosquito breeding has been reported from City SP zone and Narela zone, according to the report.
An MCD official said that the quantum of fine issued for the mosquitogenic conditions has not been changed and a measly fine amount of ₹500 for such violations is no longer acting as a deterrent.
To be sure, the process for increasing the fine amount to ₹5,000 was approved almost a year back but the final notification continues to remain stuck in bureaucratic quagmire.
This year, Delhi has seen the maximum number of rainy days in a month, according to data collected by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) since 2011. This month, Delhi set the record for the maximum number of continuous rainy days in a month, at 18, since 2011.
So far, Delhi has recorded 278.4mm of rainfall till August 25, which is already past the monthly average mark of 233.1mm. The last time Delhi received more rain in the month was in 2013, when it recorded 321.4mm of rainfall.