Over 6,700 Chikungunya Cases in Delhi, Says Report

New Delhi: At least 6,712 people have been afflicted with chikungunya in the national capital, with 1,473 cases of the vector-borne disease being reported in the last week.

According to a municipal report released on Monday, out of the total cases recorded till October 8, nearly 620 of them have been reported in areas falling under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

Nearly 5,300 cases were reported in the city till October 1, according to South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates the data for vector-borne disease cases in the national capital on behalf of all the civic bodies here.

Among the three corporations, 618 cases have been reported in areas under NDMC, 560 under SDMC and 253 under East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) this season.

At least 15 fatalities have been reported at various hospitals in the city due to complications triggered by the disease, though the civic bodies have kept the death tally at zero.

Delhi and other parts of north India are facing a spike in chikungunya cases after nearly 10 years, with the experts claiming that the rising number of cases could have been due to "evolution" in the chikungunya virus (CHIKV).

However, doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here have identified the genotype of the CHIKV, which they claim is the same as the one that caused the 2006 outbreak of the vector-borne disease.

"We have identified the genotype of the virus — East Central South African — and sent the report to the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). It is the same genotype that was in circulation in 2006 outbreak," Lalit Dar of Department of Microbiology at AIIMS had earlier said.

Chikungunya is generally considered a non-fatal disease.

It is caused by the chikungunya virus which has one serotype. There are three genotypes of this serotype — Asian, West African and East Central South African.

According to municipal data, the last time the number of affected people had reached the three-figure mark in Delhi was in 2011.

In 2006, over 13 lakh suspected cases of chikungunya were reported, the data said.

At least 19,617 people have been affected by chikungunya across the country till September 25, with 10,334 in Karnataka and 1,187 in Maharashtra, according to NVBDCP.