Sept. 14: A 60-year-old man who had tested positive for dengue died this morning, taking the victim count to four in the Calcutta municipal area this week.

Shib Shankar Jha, a resident of Vidyasagar Colony in Jadavpur, died at Desun Hospital around 6.10am. Officials at the hospital said Jha had tested positive in the dengue NS1 antigen test.

Neighbours said Jha had been admitted to the hospital with high fever yesterday.

Metro today published a report highlighting that the civic authorities were in denial on dengue despite a spurt in the number of people being affected by the disease, spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito which breeds in stagnant, clean water.

"Singapore- e dengue hoy, kintu Kolkata shohor dengue bilin-er jaygay niye gechhe (Dengue has been reported in Singapore, but in Calcutta it has reached a stage of non-existence)," mayor Sovan Chatterjee had said while speaking at a programme yesterday.

A six-month-old boy from Beckbagan Row died of dengue and other complications at the Institute of Child Health on Tuesday. On September 7, a 12-year-old-boy and his father succumbed to dengue.

Jha is the fourth victim of the disease this week in the area under the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

The four deaths in seven days and the places where the victims lived - Kasba, Beckbagan Row and Jadavpur - show that the disease is spreading fast across the city.

Jha had been suffering from fever since Tuesday evening. He was taken to KPC Medical College and Hospital in Jadavpur around midnight.

"The hospital did some tests and said the patient would require ventilation. We had to shift him to Desun Hospital as the Jadavpur facility lacked ventilator," a neighbour said.

He was taken to Desun around 7am yesterday. Around 6.10am today, doctors informed the family that the patient had died. The death certificate issued by the hospital reads: "Multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with shock in a case of febrile illness. Dengue NS1 positive."

Civic officials said they were yet to determine whether Jha had died of dengue. "He was suffering from Hepatitis B and was an alcoholic," an official said.