Collector G.S. Sameeran on Saturday evening held a meeting with senior officials to discuss ways to prevent Zika virus spread in Coimbatore.
In the virtual meeting he held with Commissioner of Municipal Administration, Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner, District Revenue Officer, Project Director, DRDA, Joint Director and Deputy Director of Department of Public Health it was decided to conduct random fever checks on people entering the district from Kerala, said sources.
The administration would hold special medical camps at the 14 entry points at the State border with Kerala as the number of Zika virus cases was high there. Likewise, the administration had asked the Department of Public Health to collect details of pregnant women reporting fever symptoms.
This was important because Zika virus had the potential to cause microcephaly, a defect where the head of an infant is smaller compared to body, the sources said. In addition to collecting details of pregnant women with fever, the Department officials should also collect details of those reporting fever.
As for the local bodies, the Collector asked them to intensify mosquito control measures by destroying mosquito breeding sources. They should carry out the same steps that they followed to control dengue spread, as the source of Zika virus and dengue was the same – Aedes aegypti mosquito, which bred on fresh water.
Therefore, it was important that discarded articles that could store rain water be destroyed.
The Collector asked the local body and Department officials to carry out the work on a war footing, including fogging to eradicate mosquitoes, the sources added.