Number of patients afflicted with dengue in the capital crossed the 3,000 mark but the spread of the disease appeared to taper off with 59 cases being reported countrywide.

The disease has claimed 175 lives this year, health officials said on Thursday.

However, no dengue deaths were reported across the country since Wednesday, they said.

With the fresh cases, the total number of people afflicted with the mosquito-borne disease rose to 9,739.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which has emerged as the nerve-centre during the outbreak of the disease in the capital, admitted just two patients suffering from the disease in the last 24 hours ending 8:00 am.

In Delhi, 28 fresh cases were reported in hospitals across the city, taking the total number of cases in the capital to 3002.

Health officials said dengue was on a decline and expressed hope that the disease would disappear by the end of the month.

Twenty people had died of dengue in Maharashtra, 17 in Rajasthan, 16 in Andhra Pradesh, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven each in Karnataka and West Bengal, five each in Punjab and Kerala [Images], three in Gujarat and two each in Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

As many as 1224 people were afflicted with the disease in Rajasthan, 931 in Punjab, 907 in West Bengal, 880 in Kerala, 582 in Maharashtra, 480 in Gujarat, 409 in Haryana, 328 in Tamil Nadu, 141 in Andhra Pradesh, 108 in Chandigarh and 92 in Karnataka.

Last year, 157 people had succumbed to dengue while 11,985 were afflicted.