Even as the stage is set for Bengal’s biggest festival, the number of new dengue cases in the state is pegged at 635 and about 704 people are admitted to different government hospitals due to the mosquito-borne disease. In the last one week, 4, 744 dengue patients have been identified, according to health department sources.
Health department officials said that more and more people are being tested. However, the dengue positivity rate has decreased by 2 per cent from last week. The positivity rate is low in Howrah and Murshidabad too.
It may be recalled that on Tuesday, the health department issued instructions to the authorities of district, block and sub-divisional hospitals. According to the instruction, district-block-division hospitals, medical college doctors, additional superintendents, and assistant superintendents would have to stay in the city to attend to emergency cases. Doctors and health workers, the order said, could not go on leave without the permission of the authorities. Except on Ashtami, OPDs of hospitals would remain open on all days during Puja.
