According to health department officials, the total number of dengue cases in the capital has reached 280 including twenty-four fresh cases of dengue. Till now, two people have lost their lives due to dengue.

The first dengue death was of a 15-year-old boy who died on Oct 23 in AIIMS. Second death was of a nine-year-old boy who succumbed to dengue on Monday at LNJP.

Although the number of dengue cases is less than the last year, but officials are taking all precautions to prevent spread of the disease. In 2008, 1,321 cases of dengue were reported in Delhi. Media is used by officials to spread awareness in people about ways to prevent dengue.

N. K. Yadav, chief medical officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said: “October is the ideal time - temperature wise - for mosquitoes to breed and dengue to spread. We have our teams going from door-to-door and checking that there is no water accumulation in flower pots, coolers and elsewhere, and if there is, spraying medicines, so as to check the disease.”