GHMC on its toes to prevent vector-borne diseases in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has sprayed 110.5 tonnes of sodium hypochlorite in public places under limits to date.
On the eve of National Dengue Eradication day, the corporation said that it has deployed additional manpower to spray sodium hypochlorite. “In the present Covid-19 situation, 202 additional staff were deployed and they are spraying sodium hypochlorite (NaCLO) at locations where there are positive cases, identified government hospitals, buildings, offices, ATM centres, markets, and ration shops, among other public places. Till now 110.5 tonnes of the chemical was issued to all zones and containment zones are sprayed with the chemical twice a day,” read a GHMC press release.
In GHMC, 2,375 staff are working for vector control operations and are taking up all precautions for effective surveillance and control of mosquito breeding and the spread of vector-borne diseases, the release said. Weekly anti-larval operations are being taken up by 642 teams, as per the Pin Point Program (PPP) in domestic and peri-domestic mosquito breeding sources (house to house). On average, the teams cover one lakh houses daily.
GHMC has also taken up source reduction i.e. checking of overhead tanks, sumps, pit-taps, and other water storage containers like drums, tins, pots and unwanted waste materials, etc., on regular basis for identification and removal of Aedes and Anopheles mosquito breeding and treating the sources with larvicide temephos once in a week. Further, anti-larval operations in the Musi from Attapur to Chaderghat bridge is also being done regularly.