Jajpur: Two more persons have died of diarrhoea in Odisha’s Jajpur district, taking the death toll to 13, a health official said Wednesday.
The latest casualties were reported from Vyasanagar area in the district.
Additional Director of Health Services (Leprosy) Khestra Mohan Kanda said the patients were brought to Vyasanagar hospital Tuesday night in critical condition.
“They arrived at the hospital severely dehydrated and died within half an hour of admission,” Kanda informed.
According to Bijay Mishra, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Jajpur, 37 new diarrhoea patients were admitted to various hospitals in the district Wednesday.
A total of 196 patients are currently undergoing treatment at different healthcare facilities in Jajpur, he added.
Mishra informed that of 49 samples from the district sent to a laboratory for testing in two phases, 16 were found cholera-positive.
Meanwhile, central team members held discussions with officials of the state health department and panchayati raj and drinking water department Wednesday.
The outbreak, which began as a diarrhoeal illness in Jajpur on June 9, has now spread to other districts, including Dhenkanal, Bhadrak, Keonjhar and Cuttack.
Sporadic cases have also been reported from additional districts, officials said.
Following the spread of the disease to five districts, the government has put all the collectors on alert, asking them to take preventive measures.
On the other hand, municipal authorities in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack continued to conduct raids at food stalls and packaged water supply units to check the quality.
PTI
