TN records 8,953 dengue cases this year

CHENNAI: As many as 8,953 cases of dengue and 10 deaths due to the same have been reported in Tamil Nadu so far. While the heavy rains in the recent months have led to an increase in the risk of vector borne diseases, the health minister said that there is no major spurt in the cases of dengue and death due to the same. The state has recorded more than 1,600 cases of dengue this month. However, no new deaths have been reported in the State.

Health minister Ma Subramanian said that in 2012, 13,204 people were affected by dengue and 66 people died. In 2017, 23,294 cases of dengue were reported in Tamil Nadu and 65 deaths were reported. However, the number of cases remaining below 10,000 cases and 10 deaths are reported this year.

"The Union government had warned that there would be a large-scale impact of dengue and we had taken precautionary measures for the same. Thus, the dengue cases remain under control. There is no need to panic as this is an average impact due to dengue, " said Ma Subramanian.

He inaugurated the 10th monsoon special medical camp on Saturday. The minister said that the number of cases of monsoon related illnesses increase usually after the rains, and 1000 camps per week were planned to prevent that. A total of 23,315 camps have been conducted and people were tested for Dengue, Malaria, fever, Chikangunya and other illnesses.

He said that 13,482 special camps were conducted in Chennai, Kancheepuram Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu after the cyclone mad 6,635 camps were held in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Tenkasi which have been affected by continuous heavy rains. So far, a total of 43,432 medical camps have been conducted across Tamil Nadu in the last two months and 21,79,991 people have been screened.