Times News Network
Ludhiana: The number of dengue cases in the district has increased exponentially over the last 21 days. According to a health department report on Wednesday (Nov 6), the dengue cases’ tally in the district stood at 301 from Jan 1 to Nov 6. Till Oct 16, 133 cases had been reported, indicating a 126.3% increase during the last three weeks.


As per the report, of the 301 dengue cases, 195 were reported from urban areas of Ludhiana district while 106 were reported from rural areas. Of the urban areas, Ludhiana city had 189 cases, Khanna had five and one case was reported from Jagraon.
The report says that among the various blocks in rural areas, Sahnewal had 28 cases, Koom Kalan had 19 and Sudhar 16. Among the 12 blocks, Raikot, Malaud and Hathur had just one case each.
District epidemiologist Dr Sheetal Narang said the administration has “taken steps to check vector-borne diseases, including dengue”.
She said eighteen teams were constituted for Ludhiana city to check the disease whereas there are 230 rural teams comprising multi-purpose healthcare workers, ANM (auxiliary nurse and midwife), breeding checkers and accredited social health activists. Health department officials said that they have fifty breeding checkers each in Ludhiana city and in rural areas of the district to check vector-borne diseases.
They said apart from carrying out a house-to-house breeding checking, breeding checkers destroy the mosquito larvae with larvicide and also help in creating awareness among people.
Officials said every Friday is observed as a Dry Day as part of Har Shukarwar Dengue Par Waar (wherein vases and flower pots etc will not be watered to break the cycle of larvae) and during the day, the teams visit govt and semi-govt offices. The teams are carrying out checking of larvae in commercial and residential areas.
Experts have advised people to be cautious. Punjab IMA president Dr Sunil Katyal said people shouldn’t allow water to stand in open containers. Katyal advised people to cover their bodies as much as possible to “avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, maintain hygienic surroundings and also use mosquito repellants indoors”.