BHUBANESWAR: Within the last four days, the Capital city’s dengue case count has increased by 168 per cent, exposing the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s inability in containing the vector-borne disease. From 51 cases on July 11, the dengue infection tally increased to 137 on July 15, with Niladri Vihar, Sailashree Vihar and Chandrasekharpur area being the worst-affected.
Sources in the BMC said 21 cases were reported from different parts of the city on July 15 against 16 cases on July 14. The disease which is spreading its tentacles across the city has so far taken 35 residential areas, including slums, in its grip.
As per reports, Niladri Vihar has reported 35 new cases, while Sailashree Vihar saw 16 new cases of dengue since June 24. The cases also include eight from Chandrasekharpur, seven from Kalpana square, five each from BDA Colony and Unit-I, four from BJB Nagar and three each from Laxmi Sagar, Badagad, Damana, Siripur, Unit-VI, Unit-VIII and Nayapalli.
Besides cases have been reported from places like Tarini slum, Chintamaniswar, Acharya Vihar, Rameswarpatna, Unit-II, Khandagiri, Forest Park, Palaspalli, Tankapani road, Cuttack-Puri road, Saheed Nagar, Rasulgarh and Ashok Nagar. Apart from Bhubaneswar, 17 dengue cases have also been reported from rural Khurda.
BMC’s containment measures against the disease started only in June last week when cases started rising. While measures to eliminate breeding sources were almost nil, the dustbins in parks and other places were also not covered or kept upside down to avoid storage of rainwater.
Earlier this week, the civic body mobilised one Rapid Response Team (RRT) comprising doctors, health workers and BMC staff to affected areas of Wards 7 and 14 in the North Zone. The move, however, is proving insufficient as cases from the zone continue to remain high. A senior official from National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) said that if containment measures are not expedited, breeding will spread to other localities.
Meanwhile, Additional District Urban Public Health Officer (ADUPHO) Antaryami Mishra blamed sporadic rain and high humidity for the rise in cases as the factors lead to the breeding of mosquitoes.
Director of Public Health Niranjan Mishra urged citizens to keep their residential premises and surroundings clean and not allow water to accumulate. He advised people to get their ELISA test done free of cost at Capital Hospital, RMRC, AIIMS or Khurda DHH in case of any symptoms such as fever and body ache.