PANJIM: The State has so far reported two cases where patients were detected with both COVID-19 and dengue simultaneously and have been cured of these ailments since then.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Kalpana Mahatme said both the patients had tested positive for COVID-19 in the RT-PCR test and for dengue in the MAC-ELISA.
“We had several suspected cases of COVID-19 and dengue simultaneously, during the rapid tests. However, those are not confirmatory tests and hence cannot be considered on record. During the confirmatory tests, only two were found positive for both ailments,” she explained.
“Both have also recovered,” Mahatme said.
Dengue flu is on the rise now unlike last year when the cases were at bare minimum due to surge in COVID-19 cases and its imposed lockdown
A total of 266 dengue cases have been reported in the State from January 1 till July 31, as against 212 cases reported during the same period in 2020.
A total of 102 cases were reported in the month of July alone. The month saw four times more cases compared to last year, when it had only 26 cases. In 2019, July had 70 cases in total.
Vasco and Cortalim were worst hit with dengue as South Goa reported 65 cases in July alone, while in North 37 cases were scattered across Panjim, Mapusa, Calangute, etc.
The Health Official, however, claims that it is an “annual seasonal trend”.
A total of 493 dengue cases were reported in 2020, which is half the number of cases reported in 2019 that is 992.
