PANAJI: August saw 117 dengue cases as against 36 reported for the corresponding period in 2020. However, doctors said that the steep rise in dengue infections last month cannot be likened to that seen last August as the period had overlapped with the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With Goa reporting Covid-19 cases from June last year, novel coronavirus was the focus. Several areas were declared containment zones, and surveillance (for vector borne diseases) was affected. This year, Covid infections started dropping from May-end, and we could do better surveillance,” health officers in charge of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) in Goa, Dr Kalpana Mahatme said.
But, overall, there has been a rise in dengue cases in 2021. As many as 383 dengue infections were reported from January till August-end as against 248 cases for a similar period in 2020.
August saw more cases with the majority reported from Vasco and Panaji.
Goa’s first wave of the pandemic started in June last year with an outbreak reported from Mongor Hill, a congested and densely populated area of the port town. Within a month, Vasco turned into a hotspot.
The second wave peaked in May, and cases started dropping drastically from June onwards.
“Not only has surveillance been better this time, but more tests were done as health centres tested all cases of fever for malaria and dengue, besides Covid-19,” Mahatme said.
While the spread of dengue in Cortalim was under control in August, Vasco did not see a downturn. In July, it had 41 cases, and last month 46 were reported from the town, while Cortalim’s tally dropped from 24 to 12 cases in August.
Panaji and Vasco have been the areas of concern for the directorate of health services (DHS). “Panaji and Vasco have been our major concern,” she said.
The DHS has intensified its efforts by involving the civic body in Vasco. It also wrote to the South Goa collector as several major establishments such as the Goa Shipyard Ltd, Mormugao Port Trust, railways and Navy are based in the port town.
“We want them to chip in and look after their areas as our limited workforce cannot be inspecting their areas as frequently as needed. They also have sanitary inspectors. It is high time they too help us,” Mahatme said.
The problem with Vasco, she said, is because several of the areas pockets have slums such as Baina, New Vaddem, Vaddem, and irregular water supply is a perennial problem.
“The PWD has been asked to supply those areas water 24X7 to discourage residents from collecting water in pots and pans which facilitates mosquito breeding,” she said.
Since residents don’t listen to health workers, she said they also had a meeting with officers of the municipality and councillors requesting them to form groups and visit their respective wards to create awareness and undertake source reduction drives. The groups are yet to be constituted, Mahatme said.
While fogging is done wherever cases are detected, it is not the solution to stop the spread of dengue. “Fogging will kill adult mosquitoes, but the larvae will remain intact and reproduction will continue. That’s why we wanted the municipality to carry out house-to-house awareness,” she said.
The areas of the capital that had dengue infections were Miramar Bhatlem and St Inez. North Goa had 59 cases in August reported from Panaji, Chimbel, Aldona, Siolim and Candolim. The erratic monsoon also contributed to the problem. During dry spells water accumulated in objects like containers and tires turn into potential breeding grounds.
