Hyderabad: Among other factors, the city has seen a steep decline in cases of seasonal diseases, especially malaria and dengue, this year by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) raising awareness about residents, widespread fumigation and anti-larval operations.
While 190 malaria cases in 2018 and 81 in 2019, only three have been reported this year. Similarly, 401 dengue cases were registered in 2018 and 3,366 against 346 this year. Of the recorded dengue cases so far, only 75 have been confirmed and 271 are suspected.
Usually cases of seasonal diseases like malaria and dengue occur in July-December. “This year, however, many cases have not been reported and cases of both diseases have fallen drastically,” said GHMC head entomologist A. Rambabu.
This happened despite heavy rains in the city during the monsoon, especially in October. Among various factors, special initiatives such as ‘ sunday 10 am 10 min’ initiated by municipal administration and urban development minister KT Rama Rao and widespread spraying of disinfectant in the wake of the coronovirus epidemic helped to control the cases.
Although only 75 of the 346 dengue cases recorded this year were confirmed and reported from the rest of private hospitals, the entomology wing, regardless of the status of the case, all like intensifying anti-larval operations and spraying disinfectant in areas he said.
GHMC is carrying out weekly anti-larval operations with 642 teams covering an average of 1 lakh households in domestic and peri-domestic mosquito breeding source (house to house). The focus was on cleaning water stagnation points to remove Aedes and Anopheles mosquito breeding, and the sources were being treated once a week with Larvicide Temephos.
This year, special focus was placed on the Musi River, and 18 special teams with 54 workers carried out anti-larval activities from Attapur to Chadarghat bridge. Water hyacinth was also being extracted in tanks and ponds in the city.
Not only in cases of malaria and dengue, cases of diarrhoea have also seen a significant decline. Typically, during this part of the year, there are many cases of diarrhea in the city, but due to increased awareness, widespread use of hand sanitizers and handwash fluids and reduced dine-out activity have resulted in decline of cases, said basti dawakhana programme officer (Hyderabad) Anuradha.
In addition, many schools and colleges were also closed due to the epidemic, which helped control the spread of seasonal diseases.
