The Darjeeling district administration has directed all government offices and schools to clear stagnant water on their premises. Schools and offices which do not have such stagnant water on their premises have also been asked to inform the administration about it.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the district has reported some dengue cases recently. The tiny hamlet of Dudhia on the foothills of Kurseong has witnessed an outbreak with 28 cases there. Darjeeling District Magistrate S Ponnambalam has also instructed officials overseeing construction projects to ensure that water does not accumulate at the work sites.

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The DM held a meeting with the district level monitoring team of vector-borne diseases here today. The dengue virus is primarily spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is known to breed in clean, stagnant water. It takes
a week after an egg is laid for an adult mosquito to emerge from it.

“Such instructions have been given to the government offices and schools and they will check if their premises have stagnant water. They will clear the water if accumulated there, if not they will inform the DM in writing within 15 days that there is no stagnant water which may lead to mosquito breeding in their buildings or premises” said an administrative official today.

According to Mr Ponnambalam, offices and schools have also been asked to maintain cleanliness and conduct sanitization frequently. He said all administrative and health department officials had been asked to closely monitor the vector-control plans and house-to-house activities, mainly in the urban and peri-urban areas.

“Work on spraying larvicide and insecticide will continue,” the district magistrate said. Dudhia near Siliguri has so far reported 28 cases, with 14 detected on 28 July, while experts have said that the unprecedented spike in the dengue cases in the foothills amid the Covid-19 scare can be a matter of concern. Most of the cases have been detected in the Lower Dudhia area, while the administration and the health department have intensified measures to contain the outbreak.

Health department officials have said that after studying the adult mosquitoes trapped in the ‘light trap’ and the larvae, it was found that the mosquito responsible for the outbreak was of the dengue transmitter Aedes albopictus (Stegomyia albopicta) species. The mosquito can survive in cold temperatures and are found in the sub-Himalayan region and rural areas. The administration has engaged village resource persons (VRP) and vector control teams (VCT) as part of preventive measures there, while Self-help groups (SHG) have also been roped in to take up the awareness drive.

Following the outbreak there, the administration has alerted the adjoining Naxalbari Block and has asked officials there to take preventive measures too. Some dengue cases have also been recently detected in rural areas under the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP). Village survey teams (VST), are conducting house-to-house visits with messages of awareness among the people in the SMP area, while vector control teams (VCT) have been engaged for spraying
and removal of stagnant water.

There are 22-gram panchayats (GP) in four blocks– Matigara, Naxalbari, Kharibari and Phansidewa-in the Siliguri sub-division. In rural areas, the hollow remnants of felled bamboo trees are being filled with sand so as to avoid water accumulation. Such bamboo stags are considered breeding spots for mosquitoes, according to the health department official associated with the vector-borne disease control programme.