The number of dengue cases under the Calcutta municipal area rose by 129 in the last two weeks, records released by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has shown.
An official of the civic body said 509 dengue cases were reported till September 7. Three hundred and eighty cases were reported in the city till August 24.
“The dengue cases have started to rise. Five hundred and nine dengue cases have been reported in the city till September 7,” said an official of the civic body.
Officials said 370 dengue cases were reported till September 7 in 2024 and 2,791 cases were reported during the corresponding period in 2023.
Two men have reportedly died of dengue this month.
Swaroop Mukerji, 75, a resident of Sunny Park in Ballygunge, died on August 9 after a brief bout of fever.
Arijit Das, 35, from Gabtala Lane in Behala Parnasree, died of dengue on August 14.
Earlier, on June 21, 13-year-old Saroni Banerjee, a resident of Dum Dum Cantonment under the Dum Dum Municipality, also died of dengue.
The civic body has identified seven wards as dengue-vulnerable based on the number of cases reported since January. The wards include neighbourhoods such as Sunny Park and Queens Park in Ballygunge, along with parts of Lake Gardens, Topsia, Picnic Garden, Kidderpore, Jodhpur Park, and Bhowanipore.
Civic body officials said they were focussing on door-to-door visits and awareness campaigns to fight dengue.
The awareness campaign teams have been asked to communicate messages regarding the prevention of water accumulation in key areas across all neighbourhoods.
They have been asked to convey the complete message in one location before proceeding to the next site, instead of delivering the message from a moving autorickshaw where no one could hear the entire message.
The website of the World Health Organisation (WHO) says that “dengue virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito”.
The WHO website adds that disposal of solid waste properly and removal of artificial habitats that can hold water; covering, emptying and cleaning domestic water storage containers on a weekly basis were among the measures that can prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.