LAHORE: There is no respite in dengue cases, as Punjab has reported three more fatalities including two in Lahore and one in Gujranwala during the last 24 hours. About 380 fresh dengue cases including 283 in Lahore were reported during the past 24 hours across the province.

With these fresh cases, the number of dengue-affected patients in Punjab reached 20558, a spokesman of health department, said adding, "There are about 1350 patients admitted in Lahore's hospitals and over 2000 across the province."

The spokesman said the department has stepped up operations across the province to eradicate dengue larvae and stop the spread of dengue. The reports from the state-run hospitals of the provincial capital said the beds for admission of dengue patients had run short and two to three patients were sharing a bed at the major teaching hospitals of the city.

There are reports of shortage of fever medicines in different parts of the provincial metropolis. Naveed, a resident of Gulshan-e-Ravi said his wife is suffering from fever and he is running from pillar to post to buy medicine for fever.

On the other hand, a spokesman of health department said fever medicines are available in abundance and there would be no shortage of medicine in any part. To a query, the spokesman said that due to effective measures taken by the department, the number of coronavirus cases in Punjab has come down significantly.

During the last 24 hours, Punjab has reported 138 coronavirus cases and five deaths taking the tally of cases to 441,631 and death toll to 12,967.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021