With mild showers continuing to drench Bhopal despite the weatherman's predictions to the contrary, the district administration and the civic body are persisting with efforts for the control of seasonal diseases.

Traditionally, seasonal diseases like malaria, dengue, and chikungunya erupt in the summer and continue to prevail until the end of the monsoon in the state capital; however, post-monsoon drizzles this year are giving a fresh lease of life to these vector-borne infections.

While the weatherman has predicted the conclusion of the rainy season several times over the last month, parts of the state capital witnessed mild showers in the early hours of Sunday.

Health officials say that the threat of the seasonal infections can only be rolled back after the culmination of the rains. They advised people to ensure that all stale water in and around their homes is drained to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. Throughout the high-risk season, both the district administration and the municipal body have persisted with efforts to arrest the disease-causing larvae.

Since the start of the summer, the district administration has provided free testing facilities at five government-run hospitals in the city. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) sanitation workers and health department employees have also conducted locality-wise inspections in search of the dreaded larvae.

This year, several households and establishments were penalised after disease-carrying parasites were found breeding in stale water on their premises.

 For months, pesticides have been sprayed in high-risk localities.

On Saturday, over 470 patients were tested for malaria at government health centres; none of the samples were found to be positive. Seven positive dengue cases were discovered from 165 tests. Four chikungunya cases were reported from 72 tests conducted on the day.

The new discoveries bring the cumulative number of positive cases this year to 11 for malaria, 477 for dengue, and 156 for chikungunya, according to statistics reported by the district health department. The fresh cases indicate that citizens in the state capital cannot let down their guard against these diseases just yet.