The vector menace continued to haunt the city with a 13-year-old boy dying of an unknown fever and fresh dengue cases being reported.

Bikash Kumar Singh, a resident of Dalpatti, off Rabindra Sarani, had been suffering from fever since early on Monday. He died in the evening at Medical College and Hospital. A blood test done earlier in the day, however, was inconclusive.

Bikash, the youngest of three siblings, was a Class VI student of Uma Vidyalaya on Rabindra Sarani. His father Mittesh, a 36-year-old driver from Bihar, was at Burdwan when the boy died.

Bikash’s mother Manjushree said he had developed fever around 3am on Monday. A local doctor advised a blood test. “The fever did not come down, so we took him to Medical College and Hospital. The doctor there administered an injection. After some time, he was allotted a bed. But while preparing to shift him, we found he had died.”

Tapan Adhikari, a neighbour, said he had seen the boy run around the locality till 7pm on Sunday.

“Despite the rise in malaria and dengue cases, the civic authorities have not done anything to stop mosquitoes from breeding in our area,” he said.

Two women residing in a housing estate for state government employees on Diamond Harbour Road, near Ajanta cinema, were diagnosed with dengue on Tuesday.

Saraswati Sarkar, the 45-year-old wife of the inspector in-charge of Behala police station, and Tapasi Guria, aged around 40, were admitted to CMRI Hospital and Vidyasagar Hospital, respectively, on Monday with fever, joint pain and rashes.

“My wife’s condition is stable. She will undergo another blood test,” said Sudha Ranjan Sarkar, the inspector-in-charge.

Five patients with undiagnosed fever were admitted to Bagha Jatin State General Hospital. Hospital officials said they were residents of Bijoygarh and Jadavpur.

Sovan Chatterjee, the chairman of borough XIV (parts of Behala) where many residents have been suffering from undiagnosed fever, said: “The staff members in the vector control department have been deployed for preparing voter list. Therefore, mosquito repellents are not being sprayed.”

The civic health department officials claimed the vector control programme was on in full swing in Behala.