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ISLAMABAD: The district administration of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad sprang into action and carried out dengue inspection and prevention steps as the city reported 11 cases of the disease during the last 24 hours, state-run media reported on Monday. 

Dengue is an illness that spreads through vectors, carried by the bite of an infected mosquito. There is currently no cure or vaccine for dengue fever and in its most severe form, it can lead to fatalities. People affected by dengue go through intense flu-like symptoms including high fever, intense headache, muscle and joint pain, and nausea and vomiting, typically persisting for approximately a week.

The district administration carried out 365 inspections across the city in the last 24 hours to identify mosquito larvae, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. Three sites tested positive while 10 tested negative. 

“The district administration of Islamabad has released its latest dengue surveillance report, confirming 11 new cases across different union councils in the last 24 hours,” APP said in a report. 

It added that seven of the new dengue cases were detected in rural areas, while four were reported from urban localities. The report quoted a district administration spokesperson as saying that areas with confirmed larva presence were immediately treated to curb mosquito breeding. 

The spokesperson said enforcement actions against violations of dengue preventive standard operating procedures (SOPs) were carried out across the capital. These included inspection of various residential and commercial properties by magistrates and assistant commissioners, who checked for water accumulation and non-compliance with preventive measures. 

“Several sites were sealed after violations were confirmed,” the report said. “In some cases, individuals were taken into custody for negligence in implementing dengue control measures.”

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Ifran Nawaz Memon advised residents to ensure stagnant water is not left uncovered in their homes, workplaces or surroundings as it provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The report said inspections are being conducted in high-risk zones including construction sites, junkyards, water storage areas and commercial outlets.

“Furthermore, awareness campaigns are also being carried out to inform citizens about preventive practices, including covering water containers, using mosquito repellents, and ensuring proper waste disposal,” the report said. 

Dengue fever is endemic to Pakistan, which experiences year-round transmission with seasonal peaks. This year’s first dengue-related death was reported in the country’s southern Sindh province on Jun. 3.

The development takes place exactly a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Pakistan’s flood-hit Punjab province has been witnessing an increase in vector-borne diseases. 

Punjab authorities have relocated thousands to relief camps across the province, where the WHO says unsafe drinking water and mosquitoes pose the main epidemic risks, making displaced people vulnerable to diarrhea, typhoid, malaria, dengue and skin infections.

“Although no major outbreak has been reported so far, an upsurge has been detected for vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, water-borne diseases like acute watery diarrhea, and skin diseases like scabies and eye infections,” Dr. Jose Ignacio Martin Galan, head of communications at the WHO Pakistan Country Office, told Arab News on Sept. 1.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flood crisis moved downstream on Monday, with Sindh province warning that more than 300,000 people could be hit this week as surging river waters sweep south from neighboring Punjab.

Punjab, the country’s most populous province and agricultural heartland, has borne the brunt of the disaster since late August. Officials there say 60 people have died, millions displaced and vast tracts of farmland destroyed after weeks of monsoon rains and controlled water releases from Indian dams, which authorities there carry out to manage reservoir levels during heavy rains.

Floodwaters are now racing down the Indus basin, fed by Punjab’s three eastern rivers — the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej — which have been swollen by weeks of heavy rains and dam releases in India. As the torrents merge into the Indus, Pakistan’s longest river, the surge is expected to hit Sindh this week, threatening towns and farmland along the river’s southern course before it empties into the Arabian Sea.

“The protection of people’s lives and property is the Sindh government’s top priority, and the provincial government stands with the people at all times,” Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said in a statement.

He said 133,887 people and 380,363 animals had already been shifted to safe locations, while the most dangerous flood situation was at Panjnad, where the Chenab and Sutlej rivers meet, and at Trimmu, a key headworks on the Chenab in central Punjab.

President Asif Ali Zardari, whose Pakistan Peoples Party governs Sindh, also urged institutions to remain on high alert.

“Provincial, district and local government institutions should be on alert to deal with possible flood situation,” his office said.

PUNJAB DEVASTATION

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Punjab’s information minister Azma Bokhari said the province had shifted 2.147 million people and 1.55 million animals to safer places, with more than 4.2 million people in total affected since the latest spell of monsoon rains and flooding began in late August.

“Overall, 4,335 areas have been affected [by floods] and from this, you can estimate its severity,” she said.

Bokhari added that the province’s farmland had been hit hard, with about 1.84 million acres under cultivation destroyed, including rice, sugarcane, cotton and vegetables.

Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed said the scale of the disaster had forced authorities to set up 412 relief camps, 492 medical camps and 432 veterinary camps across flood-hit districts. 

Javed added that Mangla Dam was now 88 percent full and Tarbela at 100 percent, while India’s Bhakra, Pong and Thein dams across the Sutlej and Ravi were between 90 and 99 percent full.

“Unfortunately, 60 people have died in this flood,” he said, adding that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had directed officials to compensate citizens for losses.

Rescue 1122 said operations were continuing in Multan, a major city in southern Punjab that sits near the confluence of the Chenab and Sutlej rivers and lies directly in the path of floodwaters moving toward Sindh. In Multan alone, more than 10,800 people have been rescued so far, including 2,343 in the past 24 hours, while the district administration has already carried out advance evacuation of 350,000 people and 300,000 animals, according to Rescue Punjab spokesperson Farooq Ahmed.

He said residents of Muzaffargarh, a district squeezed between the Indus and Chenab rivers, and Alipur Jatoi, a tehsil of Muzaffargarh lying on the Indus floodplain, had also been urged to evacuate from high-risk riverbank communities before the surge moves downstream.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reported extremely high flows across Punjab’s rivers on Monday, including 543,579 cusecs at Trimmu Headworks on the Chenab and 564,604 cusecs at Panjnad on the Sutlej.

The agency warned of more “severe thunderstorm rains” across Punjab in the next 24 hours after Jhelum recorded 96mm of rainfall, Jhang 77mm and Noorpur Thal 70mm. It cautioned of flash flooding in Dera Ghazi Khan until Sept. 9.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the nationwide death toll from rains and floods since June 26 when the monsoon season began had reached 910.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast further urban and coastal flooding through Sept. 10 as the monsoon’s 10th spell continues.