Dengue cases soaring in Pak amid record flooding

Dengue cases are on the rise in Pakistan in the wake of the catastrophic flooding across the country triggered by record monsoon rain since mid-June, the media reported on Thursday.

As relief and rescue operations continue, officials have warned of a looming health crisis with a surge in dengue, malaria and severe gastric infections, reports the BBC.

About 3,830 cases of dengue fever have been reported by health officials in Sindh province, one of the worst-hit regions, with at least nine deaths.

"The overall situation in Sindh is very bad, we are organising medical camps all over the province. Most of the cases we are seeing now are of dengue patients followed closely by malaria," Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, told the BBC.

"The dengue burden is the same all over the province and it's increasing daily. When we checked with the laboratories, the suspected cases are around 80 per cent of tests being done."

Shoro, who has been treating scores of dengue patients at Agha Khan hospital in Karachi, told the BBC that the situation is only going to worsen in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the overall death toll in Pakistan from this season's monsoon rains and floods has increased to 1,486, along with 12,749 injured, according to the latest update by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The NDMA further added that 179,281 people have been rescued and 546,288 others are currently living in camps.

Some 33 million people across the country have been affected so far.