Dengue deaths: NCDC team visits Chhattisgarh's Bhilai area

A team of the Union government’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday visited Bhilai in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district in connection with seven dengue deaths that have occurred recently.

The NCDC team was led by deputy assistant director Dr Amarpal Singh Bhadauriya who was accompanied by Dr Sandip Jogdand, deputy director of NCDCs regional official in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.

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A state health department official said that the NCDC team collected samples of adult mosquitoes from Shankar Nagar area of Bhilai to ascertain its virus and suggest a larvicide to destroy its larvae.

He said that the team conducted a door-to-door survey and also told the local civic body to take steps like draining out stagnant water from coolers and containers in the area.

A state government release informed that, since January 1 this year, a total of 520 positive cases and 1,556 suspected cases of dengue had been reported in Chhattisgarh.

Of these, 470 positive cases were reported in the last one month from Durg alone, the release said.

The official said that seven deaths during this period were confirmed to have been caused by dengue.

Besides, Raipur district also recorded 21 positive cases along with 505 suspected cases of dengue since January 1, 2018.

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The official said that the local health department had surveyed 79,947 houses in connection with efforts to combat the dengue menace.

The Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, T S Singhdeo, on Sunday attacked the Raman Singh government claiming that it had failed to combat the spread of the disease.

He demanded that it be declared an epidemic and also sought compensation for those who had died of dengue in the state.