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More than a dozen cases of dengue have been found in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra as the Firozabad district of the state continues to battle the mosquito-borne disease and a viral fever outbreak, a senior medical officer has said. "Out of the 16 confirmed cases, six patients have been admitted to different hospitals of the city, while the rest of them are at their respective homes. Some patients have also recovered and no deaths have been reported till now," Agra's chief medical officer (CMO) Arun Kumar Srivastava told ANI on Friday.

Kumar also listed the steps being taken by the district administration, including door-to-door surveys and fogging, to tackle the spread of dengue in the area. "We are carrying out the door-to-door surveys as per the instructions of Uttar Pradesh health minister Jai Pratap Singh and all the suspect cases are being immediately treated," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Also read | UP districts saw outbreak of D2 dengue, says health ministry; urges caution

Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHA workers have been directed to keep a regular check on the patients and bring them to the hospital in case of an emergency, Kumar added. He also said that fogging is being carried out regularly in the medical college and the water is being regularly monitored to avoid the spread of dengue. "The municipality also is on high alert and a regular cleanliness drive is being conducted," he said.

Firozabad, around 50km from Agra, has been battling the outbreak of dengue and deadly viral fever for the past three weeks now, with most of the victims being children.

Also read | Majority of child deaths in UP's Firozabad 'due to dengue', says Centre

The government has said that 57 people, mostly children, have died due to the diseases so far and 404 patients are being treated in the medical college hospital. “As many as 120 new patients were admitted on Friday while 102 people were discharged after recovery,” Sangeeta Aneja, the principal of the medical college said, adding that of the 195 tests done for dengue, 62 have been found positive.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday suspended the health officer of the municipal corporation in Firozabad for abstaining from duty without any prior information and also sealed the clinics of unauthorised medical practitioners. Meanwhile, SN Singh of Lucknow’s King George's Medical University (KGMU), who has been camping in Firozabad for the past five days to ascertain the type of fever among the patients, said it has been found that the outbreak of viral fever and dengue was due to the abundance of mosquitoes in the region. “The investigation is going on and only after reaching some conclusion, I will be able to say more,” Singh said.

ALso read | Uptick in dengue cases in Delhi, doctors urge caution

Uttar Pradesh health minister Jai Pratap Singh has said that the state government is taking all the possible steps to control the outbreak of viral fever in the state. Singh also said the government has noticed loopholes in the way officials have been working and that has been the main reason for the viral outbreak in Firozabad.

Authorities in several districts, including Prayagraj, Mathura, Meerut and Mainpuri districts, have also said that they have detected several cases of dengue.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said it has found the D2 strain of dengue in the specimens from Uttar Pradesh, which is deadlier, often cause haemorrhage and also impacts the platelet count.

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