Punjab has seen an unprecedented number of dengue cases this year with over 11,000 people falling ill and so far claiming seven lives.
As many as 54,368 people were tested for dengue, and 11,028 of them tested positive, with seven of them dying from the vector-borne illness, according to the Health Department.
Health officials predict that the dengue wave will linger for a few weeks. There are still more than 100 new dengue cases reported every day, 175 people tested positive for dengue on Wednesday.
Hoshiarpur leads the district-wise breakdown of cases with 1,340, followed by SAS Nagar with 1,160, Patiala 910, Kapurthala 862, Bathinda 634, and Amritsar 570. There were 41 dengue deaths and 11,030 cases reported in the state last year.
In addition, 1,397 cases of chikungunya have been documented. Six districts account for more than 80 per cent of the cases that have been reported thus far. With 544 cases, the Amritsar district had the highest number of reports; Hoshiarpur had 225, Kapurthala had 158, Pathankot had 116, and Tarn Taran had 94.