The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is strengthening its dengue surveillance drive in areas of the city while it would adopt a track and trace approach whereby nearby areas of residences with dengue or malaria patients will be thoroughly surveyed to find out the mosquito breeding grounds.

The civic body sources said that the decision comes in the wake of a meeting with the urban development and municipal affairs department who sounded the alarm bells after receiving worrying reports of vector-borne diseases like dengue from municipalities in the state.

However, this rise is mostly being attributed to the intermittent but heavy rainfall that lashed Bengal in September and in October. This has paved the way for an increase in mosquito breeding in collected water. The UDMA which held a meeting with the municipalities of the state has suggested increasing fogging in wards and boroughs.

Further, a KMC official said those backyards and blind lanes will be specifically scanned for garbage, often dumped from households despite warning and rainwater collects in plastic cups and paper boxes among the garbage. This is where our teams are conducting thorough checks and spraying larvicide.

Additionally, high rise buildings are also under the lens as water often keeps accumulating on terraces without residents paying heed to it. This water creates a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. “We will also use drones wherever necessary since not all corners are accessible and that’s where we can monitor through the drone camera and even spray larvicide using the device” said the official.

The focus has also been laid on conducting surveys in a near radius of residences where people have contracted a vector-borne disease. This track and trace method will help in eliminating the source of the disease which can prevent further spread in that respective area, explained the official.

“Many a time, it has been observed that a person in one of the flats inside a housing complex has contracted malaria but on doing a survey that led us to several others in that same area who too suffered or have died from vector-borne diseases. This helps us to form a clear idea as to where the possible mosquito breeding grounds exist.”