Morung Express News Dimapur | December 30 With the mercury dropping, incidence of Dengue cases has relatively declined during December. According to the Dimapur District Programme Officer, NVBDCP, Dr Moa Jamir, the total number of confirmed positive cases stood at 139 as on December 19. These were out of a total of 763 suspected blood samples tested at the Sentinel Surveillance Site Lab, District Hospital Dimapur since the beginning of October, when Dengue cases started occurring in Dimapur. The number of positive cases stood at 124 out of 699 suspected samples tested as on November 25. Dr. Moa maintained that there is no official record of lives claimed by the vector-borne virus thus far. There were reports of two fatalities in private hospitals, which however could not be established officially. With the temperature dropping, he expressed hope the outbreak will be contained. As per entomological research, the post-monsoon period before the onset of the winter is said to be a phase vulnerable to Dengue outbreak. There is apprehension that the 2016 outbreak will not be a one-off or isolated occurrence. Queried on the preventive and response mechanism being planned for a possible outbreak in 2017, Dr. Moa replied that the department is aware of it and will be discussing the issue and hopefully “be better prepared.”