Over 3K people suffering from dengue in state, cites report
KOLKATA: About 3,104 people in the state are suffering from Dengue, said a report quoting the figure that was sent to Nabanna by the state Health department. According to the report, Bengal has witnessed high infection among residents of 12 districts in the state in the 31st week of the year (1st week of August), since 2017. Five districts from North Bengal, where cases have been significantly low since 2017 during the 31st week, have seen a sharp rise in dengue cases this time.
Jalpaiguri tops among the districts with 768 dengue cases. Howrah stands second in the list with 372 cases. The highest-ever cases in Jalpaiguri in the 31st week since 2017 have been 89 while in Howrah the same has been 76. Kalimpong, which is a very small district in comparison to the 28 health districts in Bengal, has 56 cases. Cooch Behar has 35 cases. South Dinajpur has 48 cases. Malda has 177 cases.
Apart from Howrah, the other six districts that have emerged as an area of concern are Hooghly with 123 cases, West Burdwan with 55, Birbhum with 51, Rampurhat health district with 24, South 24 Parganas with 183 and Diamond Harbour with 82 cases. Interestingly all these districts have had significantly low dengue infection in the 31st week since 2017. Among the number of dengue cases Kolkata also is also on the higher side with 231 cases and North 24-Parganas with 270 cases.
When compared with the 31st week of 2021, Jalpaiguri had 8 cases against 768 this week, Alipurduar 4 against 91
this week, Kalimpong 0 against 56, Malda 38 against 177, Howrah 15 against 372, Kolkata 75 against 231, South 24 Parganas 41 against 183, Diamond Harbour Health district 9 against 82 this week Basirhat health district 3 against 75.
About 16 rural blocks
that have come under special dengue surveillance are Mal, Domjur, Madarihat, Gorubathan, Rajganj, Basanti, Gosaba, Dhupguri, Baduria, Kaliachowk II, Canning II, Matigara, Meteli, Englsihbazar and Habra II etc.
The report has identified 12 civic bodies, including corporations and municipalities, that have been badly hit. The corporations include Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation, Asansol Municipal Corporation, Bishannagar and Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The municipalities include Rajpur-Sonarpur, Panihati, Bali, Kamarhati, Titagarh, English Bazar and Rishra.
Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi had held a high-level meeting in Nabanna last week where he had instructed all the civic bodies in the state to take up anti larvae drive on a war footing.
He asked the District Magistrates to oversee the awareness campaign in their respective areas.
A senior official of KMC said the civic workers are ready to face the situation. The KMC authorities will launch special drives from Monday on sites where constructions are going on. Housing complexes-run by both the Centre and state governments will be visited by the KMC teams to ensure that garbage is removed every day.