The Coimbatore Corporation on Sunday launched mosquito control drive on ‘mission mode’ in pockets that were dengue-prone.
The move comes even as the civic body reported increase in dengue cases.
According to Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan, the Corporation had marshalled its conservancy workers in all the five zones by moving in workers from all the wards to the dengue-prone pockets. At the time the civic body started work around 9 a.m., it had 500 workers in each of the five zones for the task.
Awareness
The workers destroyed mosquito breeding sources like discarded cups, containers, tyres, etc. that could store fresh water, let out mosquito larvae-eating fish in water tanks, sprayed larvicide, and spoke to the residents in the vulnerable pockets to create awareness, said City Health Officer P. Aruna.
The workers also distributed handbills to the public, containing the ‘dos and don’ts’.
Dr. Vijayakarthikeyan said that the Corporation had identified 27 pockets in the city from where residents tested positive for dengue.
A few of those areas were in Ganapathy, Rathinapuri, Vadavalli, and Ramanathapuram. He added that the workers would work for the next three days.
Cases increase
Meanwhile, there has been increase in dengue cases in the city in the past three months compared to the same period last year.
According to sources in the Coimbatore Corporation, in December 2013, the city witnessed 14 dengue cases.
In 2014 December it was 31. In 2014 January, it was 9. But as on date this month, the city had witnessed 17 cases.
The figures for November 2013 and November 2014 also show the same pattern in that the cases went up from seven to 14.
The reasons had to do with more rains during the 2014 Northeast monsoon season compared to the 2013 period, the sources said.
Staff Reporter from
Tirupur adds:
Deputy Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine N. Raghupathy on Sunday confirmed that the death of M. Brinda (2), a resident of Tirupur city, at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital was due to dengue.
“Though the death of the girl occurred on Friday at Coimbatore, the confirmation came only on Saturday late evening,” he said.
However, he stated that the death of a six-year-old from near Tirupur about a fortnight ago was not due to dengue.
The move comes even as the civic body reported increase in dengue cases
The move comes even as the civic body reported increase in dengue cases
