Bhubaneswar: The state capital is reeling under the effects of high rate of Covid-19 infections on a daily basis. To compound the problems of the healthcare and administrative officials, dengue cases are also becoming a cause of headache. The total tally of dengue cases reached 1,058, Wednesday, thereby registering approximately an 86-time jump within a month. A total of 49 new cases were reported Wednesday. The current number of cases in the city is at an all-time high in the last five years.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) sources informed that the rate of increase is alarming as the city had reported only 12 cases till the end of June.
It should be stated here that Odisha had registered only 496 dengue cases in 2020, 3,758 in 2019, 5,198 in 2018 and 4,158 in 2017.
“We have been getting close to 40 new cases on a daily basis. Earlier it was around 15-20 cases daily. Even though most of the patients are recovering, the rate of infection is a matter of concern,” said a BMC official.
The rise has been mainly due to lack of awareness among people. We have initiated an awareness and sanitation campaign,” the official added.
Sources revealed that the city reported more than 550 cases of dengue in July. The upward trend in the vector-borne disease has been the highest in the last 10 days with 446 new infections. Two deaths have also been reported due to suspected dengue attacks. The rising number of dengue cases has put huge pressure on the already stretched health infrastructure in the city.
“We are admitting 15-20 dengue patients daily. There are two dengue wards with a capacity of 60 beds. The demand for blood platelets has also increased. However, as of now we are not facing any shortage of beds or platelets for dengue patients,” a Capital Hospital source said.
Experts at the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) of ICMR here have said that the rise is due to dengue virus serotype-2 (DENV-2 or D2), the most virulent strain. It increases severity of the attack and has been found in a large number of samples collected from Rayagada, Koraput and this city.
Meanwhile, sources at the BMC said that they have surveyed over 11,564 households and have destroyed over 34,707 mosquito breeding sites, including 35,225 sites with larvae so far, to contain spread of the disease.
The total number of cases so far reported in the last 41 days in the city stands at 997. It is more than double than the total number of cases reported in the entire state in the previous year. The good sign however, is that 748 persons have recovered until now. The rest are undergoing treatment.
“Most cases have been observed in slums of Sailashree Vihar and Niladri Vihar. ORS tablets have been distributed in most of the affected areas and constant awareness drives are being conducted. Special teams including doctors, health and sanitation workers and entomologists have been deployed in these areas to contain the spread of dengue,” informed a BMC official.
