With the summer on and just months away from the monsoon season, mosquitoes are breeding again and incidence of chikungunya is slowly increasing in the national capital.

In 2016, the cases of dengue and chikungunya gave sleepless nights in the capital as it was reported as one of the worst cases in the last 10 years.

However, this year may not be any different, but much worse if experts are to be believed. The incidence of chikungunya cases has been rising at an alarming rate, according to officials.

Till 8 April this year, hospitals in Delhi have reported 79 cases of chikungunya. Out of the 79 cases, eight of these were detected in April, while 34 in March. Around 20 cases were recorded in January and 13 in February.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on 24 March held a review meeting with the three municipal commissioners to combat vector-borne disease in the national capital.

The LG with all stakeholders reviewed preparation for combating the disease last month. He urged for strict monitoring of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and public awareness for complete understanding, prevention and treatment of the disease.

Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain on 16 September 2016 issued a notification stating chikungunya as a ‘deadly disease’, shortly after meeting with Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

A month after declaring the mosquito disease to be chikungunya, Jain on October said that the Delhi government was prepared for handling any outbreak on the vector-borne diseases as there were ‘sufficient’ number of beds in Delhi hospitals.

“The Delhi government has 10,000, beds out of which 1,000 beds were available for public in the hospitals,” Jain said, according to reports.

“The Delhi government also permitted private hospitals which collectively have 25,000 beds to temporarily increase number of beds by 10 to 15 per cent to ensure no fever patients are turned away,” he added.

The municipal corporation also held an all-hands workshop on public awareness of vector-borne diseases to tackle the mosquito mayhem in the city.

Around 4,431 cases of dengue were reported till the end of 2016, according to the report prepared by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation on behalf of all municipal corporations in the city.

There were as many as 15 deaths in 2016 at various hospitals in the city due to complications by chikungunya. However, the civic bodies denied any death reports.

The mosquito menace last year reignited the blame-game between the BJP-led municipal corporation department (MCDs) and the AAP-led Delhi government. The AAP-led government was of the view that the corporations had failed their job while the corporation rued such claims as due to lack of funds.