Dengue fever cases continue to increase in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The number of dengue fever cases continued to increase in Pakistan amid an outbreak due to floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in the South Asian country.

The southern Sindh province reported 300 new infections, said the provincial health department on Sunday evening. The worst-hit area was Karachi, the provincial capital, which reported 167 new cases.

With the newly reported dengue cases, the October figure to date for the province has risen to 5,218, bringing the local total to 15,372 this year.

In the last 24 hours, 317 more people were diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the provincial health department reported on Sunday. The number of active cases in the province currently stands at 1,919 and the total number of cases this year has reached 14,300.

The eastern Punjab province reported 235 new cases in the last 24 hours, the provincial health authorities said on Sunday. Punjab's capital Lahore reported 82 new cases, followed by Rawalpindi city with 70 cases. The total number of dengue cases in Punjab this year has now gone up to 11,107.

The national capital Islamabad reported 90 new dengue cases in the last 24 hours, the health authorities said on Sunday night. The city's total tally has risen to 3,814 this year.