Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 3: In an impressive turnaround, the state has not witnessed a single dengue-related death this year compared to six deaths till September last year.
The state government’s efforts in tackling the outbreak of the deadly disease have also paid off; only 267 persons were diagnosed positive for dengue so far this year while 740 positive cases were recorded last year, with six of them succumbing to the disease.
The southern state of Kerala ranked a dubious first with the most number of dengue deaths across the country this year.
According to data released by the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Kerala accounts for 15 of the 25 dengue deaths across the country this year. Tamil Nadu came second with five deaths while Karnataka reported four deaths.
In the state, Cuttack district reported the highest number of dengue cases at 38, followed by Bhadrak (34), Khurda (33), and Jajpur (26) till September 2.
“Last year, the state had to deal with an alarming dengue situation that was threatening to spiral out of control due to sanitation and hygiene going haywire. But the government had performed exceedingly well in minimising the number of dengue-related casualties given the high number of cases that were reported. We took all precautionary measures this time to not repeat last year’s mistakes, and till now the results are good,” said MM Pradhan, joint director of NVBDCP.
In 2014, Jajpur was the hardest-hit by the aedes egypti menace with as many as 1,500-odd cases being reported from the district alone, with five deaths. The industrial area of Tata Steel was widely blamed for the uncontrolled spurt in dengue cases.
“We have asked Jajpur district authorities as well as Tata Steel authorities to take adequate sanitation measures to avoid a repeat of last year’s epidemic. Civic and health officials have also been sensitised accordingly. The same method was repeated in almost all districts,” said Pradhan.
