With the northeast monsoon ahead and the pandemic around, the district administration has drawn up an action plan to contain any outbreak of vector-borne diseases, particularly dengue and chikungunya.
Though the figures available for the last nine months for both the vector-borne diseases show that cases during the period were less than those recorded during the corresponding months last year, the administration does not want to take a chance as a spike in dengue cases happens during the October-December period.
Last year, Puducherry recorded as many as 2,038 cases of dengue and around 797cases of chikungunya. So far this year, the region had reported, 564 dengue and 254 chikungunya cases.
District Collector-cum-Secretary (Health) T. Arun, who convened a meeting to review preparedness to deal with dengue on Wednesday, told The Hindu that the administration had decided to observe Friday as “dry day”.
On the day, coolers, flowerpots, birdbaths, water containers, stagnated water and other possible breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes responsible for transmitting dengue would be kept dry, he said.
“We appeal to the public, residents’ associations, non-governmental organisations and educational institutions to actively participate in the dry day. We need to contain the spread of dengue all the more now because of the pandemic. The mortality will be high if we have vector- borne diseases also,” he said.
The administration also planned to take massive cleaning and awareness programmes at containment zones at Kalapet, Sholai Nagar, Ariankuppam, Mettupalayam, Moolakulam, Oulgaret and Vanarapet areas.
“I have also given clear instructions to Public Works Department and Local Administration Department to clear all drains before the onset of monsoon,” the Collector said.
