KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 26

Dengue, which has been spreading through all the districts except Mustang, has afflicted almost 26,000 people in Nepal.

As of yesterday, a total of 25,543 people had contracted dengue. Over 82 per cent of the cases were reported in September, while 32 people have died of dengue after cases started to soar from July onwards.

Inside the valley, the situation is even worse with 8,895 people contracting the disease in Kathmandu district alone in July, August, and September.

In July, 35 people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. The number increased to 727 in August and 8,132 in September.

Similarly, Lalitpur has reported 6,035 cases of dengue, the second highest in the valley, which includes 99 cases in July, 1,558 in August, and 4,377 in September.

Elsewhere, 2,275 cases of dengue were reported in Makawanpur, 1,278 in Dang, 1,058 in Bhaktapur, 725 in Rupandehi, 601 in Chitwan, 449 in Dhading, 299 in Gulmi and 298 in Kailali. Of all the infected people, over 80 per cent contracted the disease in September alone.

This data proves that the government's repeated claim of initiating the 'Search and Destroy Larvae' campaign and other measures to control the disease has failed.

The government had asked the local governments through the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration to launch drives to destroy mosquitoes or larvae that carries virus spreading dengue. But, the government's apathy regarding initiatives to mitigate the impact of the disease has become evident. Even the local government seems apathetic to the disease that is spreading like wildfire in the country.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 27, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.