New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): The number of dengue cases in India has seen a rise in every second year based on the available data from the last five years. However, the total number of dengue cases reported in each of the alternate years has come down gradually.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharti Pravin Pawar, said in the Rajya Sabha that based on the data available for the past five years, it has been seen that the number of cases was higher in 2017 (1,88,401), 2019 (2,05,243), and 2021 (1,77,695), as compared to 2016 (1,29,166), 2018 (1,24,493), and 2020 (44,585).

Pawar was replying to a question on whether there has been an increase in the cases of vector-borne diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya year to year in the country. She said in her reply that the cases of dengue saw a spike every second year.

However, chikungunya has shown a mixed trend in the country, said Pawar, adding that the number of confirmed cases was 26,364 in 2016, 12,548 in 2017, 9,756 in 2018, 12,205 in 2019, 6,324 in 2020 and 10,553 in the current year.

The analysis of malaria cases reported for the past five years showed that the numbers declined on a continuous basis every year -- 10,87,285 in 2016, 8,44,558 in 2017, 4,29,928 in 2018, 3,38,494 in 2019, 1,86,532 in 2020, and 1,26,375 in the current year.

So it cannot be said that there has been an increase in the cases of vector-borne diseases year to year, Pawar informed the House.