Health Alerts

Late onset of the monsoon and insufficient resources directed towards mosquito control have led to a surge in malaria cases in Mumbai, however health authorities predict the numbers should start dropping soon followed by an uptick in dengue reporting. Five districts of South Mumbai have recorded almost three-quarters of all the city’s malaria cases this year.  Read More   

RESEARCHERS have confirmed the presence of Plasmodium knowlesi malaria among the population of the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi as a result of testing on acute febrile illness cases in the region in 2017-8. The healthsite post also notes that the same institute (AIIMS) had previously detected the presence of the parasite in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

THE 90,000+ COVID-19 infections added to India’s total on Monday took the country to #2 in global ranking and played a major part in the SE Asian region recording the largest increase in new COVID-19 cases in the past week, compared to the previous (in the Sept 6 WHO weekly epi update). It was also noted that the Americas ‘continues to carry the highest burden of the disease globally’. In Australia, the Dept of Health’s COVID-19 Epidemiological Report for the fortnight to Aug 30 noted that children up to 9yo ‘continue to have the lowest rate of infection (39.4 cases per 100,000 population), with testing rates comparable to other age groups’ while highest case numbers were among the 20–29 years cohort.