There seems to be no respite for New Delhi residents despite a drop in Covid-19 cases as the city witnessed an alarming increase in the number of dengue cases in recent days, with 283 cases reported in the Capital over the last week. The jump in cases took the tally of infections beyond 1,000 this year, according to data released by the municipal corporation on Monday.

The city recorded a total of 1,006 dengue cases this year until October 23, according to the data.

Of the confirmed dengue cases this year, 665 were reported in just October, the month in which the city historically sees a peak in dengue infections.

Of the total number of dengue cases recorded this year, 66.1% were reported in October alone.

In October 2020, 346 dengue cases were reported, accounting for 32.2% of the total number of infections that year; 787 cases were reported in October 2019, marking 38.6% of the annual cases; and 1,114 cases were recorded in October 2018, accounting for 39.8% of the total annual infections.

This year also saw dengue claim a life in New Delhi, even as fatalities from the Covid-19 pandemic came down. Last month, a 35-year-old woman from Sarita Vihar was hospitalised with severe stage of dengue and later succumbed on September 28. Her death was examined and confirmed by an expert committee.

A dengue death was reported last year as well. Two people died from the disease in 2019 and four in 2018.

The highest number of dengue deaths in New Delhi in a single year was reported in 2015 when a deadly outbreak claimed at least 60 lives, according to official figures.

Dengue causes fever, body ache, nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases, internal bleeding or a fatal drop in blood pressure.

Dengue cases began to rise amid a steady drop in the number of Covid-19 infections. Dengue was recently identified as one of the diseases, along with scrub typhus and leptospirosis, which killed at least 51 people, most of them children, in the state of Uttar Pradesh this year.