Nadda speaks to Raje as Zika virus cases reach 80 in Jaipur

ALARM BELLS Suggests steps, including intensive fumigation, to ensure vector control

Union health and family welfare minister JP Nadda Tuesday assured Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje that the Centre would extend full support in curbing the spread of Zika virus, the count of which rose to 80.

State health minister Kali Charan Saraf had announced Monday that eight more positive cases of Zika virus had been detected. He also said the central teams surveying the state “are satisfied with the measures taken by the health department to control Zika virus”.

On Tuesday, Nadda said there was no shortage of medicine and testing kits, and those will be provided to the state as and when required. He called for measures, including intensive fumigation, to ensure vector control in the state.

The minister also urged the people not to panic, but cooperate with the health officials for controlling the breeding of larvae.

According to the ministry, 330 teams have already been deployed in the affected wards of Jaipur’s Shastri Nagar, and about 4,34,515 people have been brought under surveillance. Saraf had informed that a team from National Institute of Virology, Pune, was also in Jaipur.

Officials have been inspecting houses to detect larvae to control the mosquito-borne virus.

“86,903 houses have been surveyed. 74,483 larvae-breeding sites were detected. The health workers undertook on-the-spot source reduction and containers were treated with temiphose,” the ministry said.

Earlier, Saraf had remarked that the virus is “not fatal”. So far, 1,187 samples have been collected of which 80 have been found positive, including 22 of pregnant women.

NEW DELHI/JAIPUR: