45 children die in 10 days of suspected dengue in UP's Firozabad

Firozabad: The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered an inquiry on the death of 53 people, including 45 children, over the past ten days in Firozabad, reports NDTV. The deaths were attributed to a suspected dengue outbreak, and the Firozabad medical college witnessed many more children being admitted while their parents were praying for their recovery.

Six-year-old Lucky was rushed to the government hospital as he was suffering from fever. According to the boy's uncle, the doctors directed them to take Lucky to Agra, but he died 10 minutes before they could reach there.

A parent, Sunil, is now with his son Abhijit. Three days ago he lost his daughter to the fever. Both his children had contracted with fever six days ago.

Dr LK Gupta, child specialist at the medical college, said that most of the admitted children had a viral fever, but some tested positive for dengue.

Among the 186 people admitted to the hospital, most of them are children. So, the district magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh ordered both government and private schools- classes 1 to 8- to shut down till September 6.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adithyanath visited Firozabad yesterday and promised that teams would be formed to find the cause of deaths. He added that directions had been issued to ensure an adequate workforce in the hospital to manage the situation. He visited the admitted children and homes of some of those who succumbed to illness.

According to the MLA Manish Asija, who monitors the situation, the first fever cases were reported on August 18.