Local bodies get ready to check dengue outbreak

Coimbatore: The urban local bodies have been implementing dengue preventive measures in the district and neighbouring Tirupur for the past one month in tandem with Covid-19 containment measures.
While the city corporation has asked its domestic breeding checkers to carry out both door-to-door survey to identify people with flu-like symptoms and anti-dengue drive, the Tirupur city corporation has deployed 200 such workers to implement dengue preventive measures alone.
A city corporation source said, “We have about 800 domestic breeding checkers. All of them are deployed for door-to-door survey to identify the people with Covid-19 symptoms and those who have returned to the city recently. They are directed to carry out anti-dengue drive as well.”
Pointing out that they were working in a group of three in each area, the source said, “While a person takes survey, the other would check for potential mosquito breeding spot around the house and the third person would pour abate solution in water tanks. Since Covid-19 cases are increasing in the city, we have given them strict instructions not to enter any house. If any worker contracts the virus, containment measures will be affected.”
Meanwhile, Tirupur corporation commissioner K Sivakumar said domestic breeding checkers have been deployed to check vacant sites and other places to identify source of mosquito breeding and destroy them. “The workers would also pour abate solutions in stagnant water to destroy mosquito larvae.”
Earlier, he said, workers used to inspect houses to identify the source of mosquito breeding. “But because of Covid-19 scare, we have directed the workers not to step into houses this year. Fogging is also done in the city limits daily.”
According to a corporation source, a worker could cover up to 50 houses a day. “No dengue cases have been reported in the district in the past four months.”