Delhi logged third worst dengue outbreak in 2023

In 2023, the Capital recorded 9,266 cases of dengue and 19 deaths due to the viral disease, making it the third worst outbreak of the infection in the city, annual data on mosquito-borne diseases shows.

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The severity of this outbreak, however, has been obscured with civic bodies withholding weekly data on vector-borne disease after August 7, suspending a decades-old exercise which was hitherto conscientiously followed even during the pandemic.

A quick perusal of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bulletins over the past 15 years reveals that the Capital had its worst dengue season on record in 2015, when the city logged 15,867 cases and 60 deaths-an unusual spike fuelled by a virulent strain.

As a comparison, Delhi recorded 4,469 dengue cases in 2022. This number was 9,613 in 2021 (the second-worst dengue season, with 23 deaths), 1,072 in 2020, 2,036 in 2019, 2,798 in 2018, 4,726 in 2017 and 4,431 in 2016. Through all these years, MCD shared weekly dengue numbers without fail.

In 2023, however, MCD stopped publicly releasing data on vector-borne diseases on August 7; five months on, the practice is yet to be resumed. In the last bulletin, Delhi reported 348 dengue cases double the 174 cases reported during the same period in 2022- and was at the initial stages of a spike.