Dengue count at 83, over 11K households get notice for larvae breeding

Amid rising dengue cases, which reached 83 on Wednesday, notices were issued to 11,311 households in the district where mosquito larvae were found, officials of the health department said. The district reported 10 cases of dengue on the day.

Dr Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer of Gurugram, said, “There is a risk of mosquito-borne diseases, especially dengue, malaria and chikungunya spreading this year due to heavy waterlogging and stagnation of water. People should take precautions and ensure there is no place for water to collect and give special attention to cleanliness around them and do not allow mosquitoes to breed near their homes.”

Last year, 52 cases of dengue were reported, while 22 cases were reported in 2019.

This year, the health department has identified 13 hotspots in the city, from where dengue cases have been reported. The hotspots identified are Wazirabad, Palam Vihar, Basai, Jharsa village, Kanhai Colony, Sarhaul village, Sector 21A, Sector 39, Sector 12A, Sector 47, Dharam Colony, Udyog Vihar Phase-1 and Sector 12.

The district administration on Wednesday said that over 2.27 million houses have been checked to control mosquito-borne diseases. The administration has also issued two helpline numbers, 18001801817 and 0124-44055779, for residents to request fogging drives in their areas from 9am to 5pm.

Officials said that anti-larval activities are being carried out by health department teams at suspected locations, such as coolers and overhead tanks, where mosquitoes are likely to breed and temephos medicine is being sprayed at such places. Along with this, rapid fever surveys are also being conducted.

The health department, in collaboration with the fisheries department, has introduced gambusia fish, which feed on mosquito larvae, in 173 water bodies of the district.

The department has also directed private hospitals to send reports related to surveillance and case management of mosquito-borne diseases. Setting a cap for tests, private hospitals were instructed not to charge more than ₹600 for NS-1 and LGI test to detect dengue and chikungunya, respectively, and ₹1,000 for RT-PCR tests to detect dengue. Hospitals are mandated to state the prescribed rates on the notice boards on the hospital premises.

Yadav said, “Residents should clean the surroundings of their houses once a week and ensure that there is no standing water anywhere. If a person feels high fever, nausea, joint and muscle pain, red rash on the skin and tiredness, then they should immediately contact the health centre and not self-medicate. There is no specific medicine available for dengue and malaria; residents can take paracetamol to reduce fever or pain, but must not take aspirin.”

Meanwhile, residents said that corrective action is taken only after issues are raised on social media multiple times. On Wednesday, HT found water stagnating at several places in the city, with residents also raising the matter on social media handles of the district administration.

Mahendra Tiwari, a member of the managing body of Sagar Kunj group housing society in Sector 9A, who had complained last week about water stagnation, said, “After I raised the matter two to three times on social media, action was taken but nothing is being done by the authorities on their own. For fogging or clearing water from our locality, we have to keep following up with the authorities.”

Rajesh Pandit, a resident of the Gupta Colony in Palam Vihar, said, “There are small patches of empty land where water has been stagnating since the start of the monsoon, but no action has been taken by the authorities. A 15-year-old boy in our locality is suffering from dengue and more people can get infected.”

Officials said that as the post of the chief medical officer of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is vacant at present, the staff is working on the directions from the health department. They accompany health department teams to areas where high cases of fever are reported based on rapid surveys to conduct fogging.