The Delhi High Court Friday directed the state government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation to explain the criteria to declare any disease as an epidemic.

Coming down heavily on the government, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kailash Gambhir said: "Despite the fact that the death toll is on rise, the government has not woken up as yet. How many people you want to die before declaring dengue as an epidemic? Are you waiting for few more death cases," the bench asked expressing its anguish over the matter.

Directing the government to file an additional affidavit, the bench asked it to detail the steps taken to maintain water bodies and to control mosquito breeding, which was a cause for outbreak of dengue disease in the capital. Earlier, the court took suo motu cognizance of the government's "failure" to prevent the rising number of dengue cases in Delhi.