Dengue kills 27 in Pak as disease spread intensifies

ISLAMABAD: Twenty-seven people have died of dengue in Pakistan's Sindh province as an outbreak of the water-borne disease continues to intensify across the country in the wake of the catastrophic floods, health authorities said on Wednesday.

All the deaths were reported from Karachi, Xinhua news agency quoted the provincial health department as saying.

A total of 353 new cases were reported in Sindh in the last 24 hours, the department said, adding that the number of infected people in September reached 3,594 and the total number of patients throughout the year has reached 6,163.

Additionally, 284 patients were diagnosed with dengue also in the same period in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), according to local health officials.

The number of active cases in KP is 1,729, while the total number of patients this year in the province has moved up to 5,264.

Meanwhile Punjab province registered 215 cases, of which 105 were reported in Lahore and 54 in Rawalpindi city.

The total number of cases this year in the province has risen to 3,645.

Also in the last 24 hours, 105 new cases were reported in Islamabad, which increased the overall total in the city to 1,561.

The hospitals in parts of the country have been facing a lot of pressure due to rising dengue cases.

Some of the hospitals in Karachi have converted their Covid-19 wards to treat dengue patients, local media reported.