Rain prompts KMC to focus on 68 dengue-prone zones

Kolkata: After a couple of rain spells, the KMC health department has started focusing on dengue prevention in 68 zones that were declared as hot spots last July. These hot spots, spread across the city, include 2,800 apartment buildings that have been placed under surveillance by the civic body's vector control wing.
According to a KMC health department official, the present heat and humidity may create a perfect condition for an outbreak of dengue if it rains now. As part of its aggressive anti-dengue campaign at the high-rises, KMC has started sending guidelines to fight any possible outbreak.

Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, who oversees the KMC health department, has started holding special coordination meetings between departments such as health, buildings, solid waste management, and civil engineering to conduct special drives in the dengue-prone zones before the arrival of monsoon. The KMC health department officials have been asked to send guidelines to residents of all major high-rises, urging them to coordinate with the vector-control team and abide by the rules set by the entomologists. "We are keeping our resources ready at the ward level to conduct vector-control drives in areas that have been identified as hot spots. We have to ensure that the locked houses are being cleaned regularly," said Ghosh.
The KMC health department adviser, TK Mukherjee, felt the citizens should stay alert from now to pre-empt any possible outbreak. "We need to make the citizens aware of the risk involved with stagnant water. The residents are also advised not to let rainwater accumulate on the rooftop," said Mukherjee.