Dengue situation improves sharply as September cases drop to 9 from 352 last year; DERC

RAWALPINDI, Oct 08 (APP): A high-level meeting of the District Emergency Response Committee for Dengue Control (DERC) on Tuesday reported a significant year-over-year improvement in vector management, revealing that confirmed dengue cases in Rawalpindi district fell sharply to just nine in September 2026 compared to 352 cases recorded during the same period in 2025.

Co-chaired by Deputy Commissioner Captain (R) Nadeem Nasir and Tahira Aurangzeb, MNA along with Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Information Danyal Chaudhry and Senator Nasir Butt, the committee reviewed ongoing vector control operations and field surveillance data.

Briefing the forum, health officials attributed the dramatic reduction in seasonal transmission to proactive vector surveillance, revealing that field teams detected and destroyed mosquito larvae at 53,755 sites during September alone.

The meeting emphasized that timely field responses, targeted larviciding, and continuous monitoring across high-density zones played a pivotal role in containing outbreak risks throughout the district.

Deputy Commissioner Nadeem Nasir directed executing departments to focus vector control operations on sensitive union councils and registered hotspots, ordering strict digital monitoring of field team movements to ensure zero coverage gaps.

Tahira Aurangzeb stressed that public awareness campaigns must run parallel with administrative drives to educate residents on domestic preventive measures, urging citizens to prevent stagnant water accumulation in home surroundings and cooperate fully with visiting health teams to eradicate dengue breeding sites across the division.