In Covid times, some respite: 2 malaria cases, none of dengue

Noida: Malaria cases in the district have reduced substantially in the past two years and no dengue case has been reported so far this year.
Health officials said that since Covid began, malaria cases have seen a considerable drop in the district.
The testing for malaria has also reduced since the local teams involved in testing have been diverted to Covid duties. However, the cases are still disproportionately lower compared to the tests being done.
In 2019, there were 424 malaria cases from the 73,568 samples tested. In 2020, it was reduced to 27 cases from the 51,350 samples tested. Though tests were reduced by just about 30%, cases dropped by a substantial 95%. Similarly, in the first half of 2021, two malaria cases were confirmed, though 23,248 tests have been done.
Officials said that while most vector-borne diseases are reported from July to November, there also seems to be fewer breeding places now as reported by health workers who are working on the communicable diseases awareness programme that is going on in the district.
This is possibly because of better hygiene and cleanliness being maintained by the people and regular sanitisation drives, officials said.
“We keep organising campaigns for fogging as well as inspection of suspected areas. Since last year we have seen that the breeding spots for dengue and malaria mosquitoes have reduced. There are also fewer complaints,” said Rajesh Sharma, district malaria officer.
He added, “Since Covid started, there has been much awareness about maintaining hygiene. It is possible that the people are more alert now about keeping their surroundings clean. There have also been regular sanitisation drives across the district.”
He explained that dengue and malaria mosquitoes breed in stagnant clean water. While malaria larvae can breed in clean water that has soil underneath, dengue larvae will not.
The dengue trend also seems positive from the past two years. There were 40 cases in 2019 from 628 samples tested. In 2020, this reduced to 28 cases and another five cases from outside the district, of the 333 samples tested. This year, no case has been reported so far, though neighbouring Delhi has seen 38 cases already.
Officials said that there has also not been any mortality due to dengue or malaria in over five years in the district. However, people need to continue to maintain hygiene standards, especially now that monsoon has started.
“Dengue cases increase July onwards as rainwater accumulates in many places. People need to be very careful so that clean water does not collect near homes in places such as pots, coolers, bird feeding trays in balconies, discarded tyres or thermocol cups,” said Sharma.