Chennai Corporation has reportedly stumbled upon gross underreporting of dengue cases in the city. It has now initiated measures to trace every single case of vector-borne diseases in each of its 40,000 streets.
After pulling up a few Corporation officials who failed to report 23 dengue cases in areas such as Alwarpet, T. Nagar, Mylapore, Kodambakkam, Thousand Lights and Triplicane, senior officials have kick-started a drive to trace ‘missing’ cases of vector-borne diseases. Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur on Tuesday visited areas in Anna Nagar zone to monitor mosquito-control operations.
According to Corporation sources, the number of dengue cases has increased in October. Data point to 35 cases in the month so far. The total number of dengue cases in the nine months of 2015 was just 55.
Corporation officials have visited areas such as Karaneeswarar Koil Street in Mylapore, Dargah Main Road in Triplicane, Muthu Pandian Avenue, Santhome High Road, Mangalam Street in Mylapore, Tank Bund Road in Nungambakkam, Norton Road in Mandaveli, Ponnambalam Vaniyar Street in Mylapore, Beemanna Garden Street in Alwarpet, Choolaimedu, Lake Area in Nungambakkam, Melony Road in T. Nagar and Begam Street in Royapettah to remove mosquito-breeding sources. “After medical reports confirmed dengue for my father, Chennai Corporation officials visited my house to clean the locality. We do not have mosquitoes in our locality,” said Antony Sridhar, a resident of Triplicane. His father’s name was among the 23 cases that were initially not reported by Corporation officials. Last month, the civic body identified 165 hospitals that failed to report details of patients undergoing treatment for infectious diseases. The civic body has asked all hospitals to notify the details of such patients within 24 hours.
Sources say 35 dengue cases have been reported
in October
