Kolkata is facing a late-season dengue surge, with more than 5,500 new cases reported across West Bengal in the first 23 days of October and the city recording about 2,800 cases since January, according to health department sources. The rise followed relatively lower case numbers during the early monsoon months and accelerated from late September through October.
Kolkata recorded 1,270 fresh dengue cases in the final week of September alone. The Cossipore-Belgachhia area in North Kolkata has emerged as a major hotspot, accounting for nearly 25% of the cases recorded in the city, the report said. Specific wards in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Howrah and Bidhannagar have also been flagged as active dengue zones.
West Bengal crossed 5,000 dengue cases in September, with late-season increases reported from Murshidabad, Kolkata and North 24 Parganas. More than 5,500 cases were documented across the state during October’s first 23 days, including a significant number in Kolkata. Health department accounts cited in the report place Murshidabad among the worst-affected districts, while Howrah has also recorded a substantial rise.
A state health department official said Kolkata saw about 15% more cases during the week of Durga Puja than in most other weeks of the year. The official also said the health minister had convened a meeting to discuss the situation in Howrah, Murshidabad and other districts of concern. The meeting was scheduled to address the rise in cases and the areas reporting the largest increases.
Hospitals in Kolkata have reported a corresponding increase in dengue-related consultations and admissions. Charnock Hospital has been receiving an average of eight to 10 dengue patients daily in its outpatient department over the past week, according to hospital head of emergency Nishant Agarwal. Ten dengue patients were admitted at the hospital, with some experiencing sharp platelet declines and haemorrhages. All admitted patients were reported to be stable.
High fever, severe body ache and headache were among the most common symptoms reported at Charnock Hospital. Doctors also saw patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, alongside fever. Manipal Hospital Dhakuria reported receiving about two dengue patients a day over the previous fortnight, with fever, joint pain, vomiting and rashes among the symptoms described by its infectious diseases physician Sayan Chakrabarty.
Doctors cautioned that dengue may not always present in its typical form. Satyaki Basu, an internal medicine consultant at BP Poddar Hospital, said some patients had symptoms that overlapped with other viral illnesses. He said clinical assessment and testing should depend on the overall presentation and the stage of the illness. A normal platelet count during the initial phase, he added, should not by itself be used to rule out dengue because platelet levels generally decline after the fifth day of fever.
BP Poddar Hospital tested 80 samples over the previous one-and-a-half weeks using NS1 antigen and IgG or IgM antibody tests, depending on the clinical presentation and illness stage. One sample tested positive for dengue, according to the report.
Agarwal attributed the late surge partly to the weather shift in early October, including a marginal temperature decline and sporadic rain during the puja period, which he said may have increased breeding grounds. The health minister’s meeting on Howrah, Murshidabad and other affected districts was the next stated administrative step.
