RAWALPINDI:District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control (DCEPC) Dr Sajjad Mehmood Sunday said that the District Health Authority(DHA) had shut down 694 premises over violations of anti-dengue SOPs from January 1 to date.
While giving details of the punitive actions, the health officer told reporter that the district health authority, in collaboration with other departments, had registered 3,076 FIRs, issued Challans to 7,907, notices to 15,621 and a fine of Rs 11,860,143 imposed on violations of SOPs in various areas of the district.
In addition, Dr Sajjad informed that around 4,739 confirmed cases had been reported in the district this year, while the number was 6,266 in 2019, 17 in 2020, and 2,455 in 2021.
The health officer further stated that presently, 26 patients having positive symptoms were admitted to the city’s allied hospitals, including 12 to the Benazir Bhutto Hospital, ten to the District Headquarters Hospital, and four to the Holy Family Hospital(HFH).
Dr Sajjad said that due to decreasing temperatures, dengue fever cases had registered a sharp reduction in the district during the last two weeks, adding since the previous two weeks daily, around four to 15 cases had been brought to the district’s health facilities, while earlier, the number of daily patients was 60 to 80.
The health officer informed us that only four cases were reported on the last day.
He informed that the dengue virus was endemic in Rawalpindi, with a reported incidence of over 2000 cases per year since 2012.
“Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes mosquito.”
Dr Sajjad said that dengue fever was not a life-threatening disease but could cause severe complications if not treated properly.
“If you have a high-grade fever of 3-10 days duration with associated symptoms like headache, muscle and joint pains, retro-orbital pain (pain behind the eyeballs) and skin rash, then you need to get yourself checked”.