The number of Chikungunya cases has registered a sharp rise in the off-season reaching a staggering 96 with 10 of them being recorded this month, even as the authorities are gearing up to combat any outbreak of the vector-borne diseases.
Meanwhile, two new cases of dengue have also been registered taking the total tally to 40 in the Capital this year. Fourteen cases of malaria have also been reported this month resulting in 23 this year so far, according to the report of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation which tabulates the data on behalf of all municipal corporations in the city.
“The Corporation, in order to prevent such diseases, has already initiated an awareness programme and put up over 100 huge hoardings illustrating the do’s and don’ts. We are in the process to speed up the awareness programme in an aggressive way,” said YS Maan, Director (P&I) of North MCD.
“All the necessary pieces of information are provided on the poster including a toll free number along with numbers of control room and the officials concerned. Most importantly, a feature has been introduced on our website to register complaints,” he added.
Chikungunya and dengue cases in the national Capital had tapered off by December first week last year ending the vector-borne disease season in the city that witnessed its worst chikungunya outbreak in the last 10 years, but cases are still being registered, prompting authorities to make the public aware by adopting different methods. The civic body has also sought cooperation from resident welfare associations to combat the deadly disease.
However, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) officials have credited its efforts for not reporting even a single case of dengue or Chikungunya from any of its four zones this week.
A senior SDMC official said, “SDMC has examined 7,630 blood slides, sprayed 76,4676 houses and its domestic breeding checker employees visited house to house for almost 53,24,108 times for checking breeding of mosquitoes. Breeding was found in 10,470 houses and legal notices were issued in 12,638 cases whereas prosecution initiated in 674 cases.”
“Apart from checking breeding and taking appropriate action, the South Corporation has also adopted preventive measures to bring the menace under control,” he added.
“The top officers of the Public Health Department were also instructed to take more serious actions keeping in view reporting of one case of malaria in SDMC jurisdiction in a report for the week ending May 27. The National Malaria Control Institute is being contacted for possible help in this regard,” he said.
In a series of repeated attempts to generate awareness among the people and authorities, the SDMC Commissioner, Dr Puneet Kumar Goel, had twice issued advisory to the offices of the Central and State Governments, corporation offices, educational institutions and other establishments with instructions to avoid accumulation of water in their surroundings.
The season for the vector-borne diseases begins from mid-July and generally lasts till November-end, said an official.