App to monitor dengue, chikungunya Off-season sting scare in Capital
COMING SOON Civic body app to help breeding checkers mark number of times they visit a house, mark mosquitoinfested areas
NEW DELHI: With vector-borne diseases striking early this year, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will soon launch an application for better monitoring of the disease.
The application, which in the completion stage, will have a feature to mark every household visited by domestic breeding checkers (DBCs). It will have sub-sections through which the DBCs can mark the number of times they have visited a house, areas where breeding was found, challans issued and steps taken to control it.
A senior official said, “There are cases when DBCs are not allowed to enter households but the corporation is later blamed for the spread of diseases. In such cases, the DBCs will have the advantage to mark it in the application and we will have specific date when our workers are not allowed to enter.”
At least 79 cases of chikungunya were reported in Delhi this year even though the season of the vector-borne diseases had ended in December.
Twenty-four cases of dengue were reported in the last three months, according to a
SINCE JANUARY THIS YEAR, 24 CASES OF DENGUE HAVE ALSO BEEN RECORDED, EVEN THOUGH THIS IS NOT THE SEASON FOR THE SPREAD OF DENGUE
municipal report released on Monday.
The application can mark every house using a ‘geotag’ feature on internet. It will have the facility to fill details such as phone numbers, the name of the owner and number of floors in a house.
The application, to be launched in the first week of next month, will be initially for use by the corporation’s health department staff. Later it will be open for public use.
“Once opened for public, we will be able to add other facili- ties like people can click a photo of areas where breeding is happening and post it on our application along with the address. We will ensure it gets cleaned,” she said.
As many as 4,431 cases of dengue were reported till the end of 2016, according to the report by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation which tabulates the data on behalf of all municipal corporations in the city.
The application will also help the corporation keep a check on DBC workers who do not visit the houses, she said. NEWDELHI:Union health minister JP Nadda on Wednesday conducted a review meeting for dengue and chikungunya situation in the city.
Delhi has recorded 79 cases of chikungunya since January this year, with eight cases being recorded in first week of April. Since January, 24 cases of dengue have also been recorded, even though this is not the season for the spread of dengue.
“The volume of cases of dengue and chikungunya were very high in the last two years. So there will definitely be a spill-over, which is what we are seeing now. However, these numbers do not mean that there will be an outbreak in Delhi this year too,” said Dr Sujatha Sunil, group leader, Vector Borne Diseases Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
This year, 20 cases of chikungunya were reported in January, 13 in February, 34 in March and eight till April 8. . For dengue, six cases were reported in January this year, four in February, 11 in March and three till April 8. Hardly any cases have been recorded in the same period in the previous years.
Sunil believes that the time is ideal to start breeding control measures. “Our research has found the aedes aegypti mosquitoes exist in select locations much before the start of monsoon. Hence, it is crucial to initiate vector surveillance and control programmes well before the start of monsoon,” said Dr Sunil.
This year, the Delhi government has also started awareness programmes earluy.
“Once an adult mosquito starts reproducing, it can give birth to 10,000 mosquitoes in a month and the population increases to 10 lakh the month after. We need to check this breeding completely,” said SM Raheja, head of Delhi’s dengue control cell.