The number of people testing positive for dengue has been rising across parts of Salt Lake, Bangur, Lake Town, Dum Dum and Baguiati over the past few weeks.
People have tested positive for dengue in several of the 35 wards of South Dum Dum Municipality, which is home to nearly five lakh people, since October 1. Altogether, 56 people have tested positive for dengue in the area under the municipality since October 1, said officials of the civic body.
The area under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, which comprises Salt Lake, Baguiati and Rajarhat, has recorded 155 dengue cases since October 1, officials of the civic body said.
On November 8, a woman in her 30s who was a resident of Baguiati died at a nursing home in Teghoria after testing positive for dengue.
On Thursday, officials of South Dum Dum Municipality decided that health officials would make door-to-door visits to check whether there are breeding sites of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector for the dengue virus, at houses.
The door-to-door visits will be carried out in six wards under the municipality, which have reported more than five dengue cases.
Separate teams will visit terraces, gardens, kitchens, balconies and other pockets as part of the drive to spray insecticides, drain accumulated water and spread awareness.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito can breed in a coin-sized blob of water.
“Our health department staff have faced resistance from some residents when they tried entering apartments and houses for clean-up drives. We have decided to inform police if we face any resistance from residents. Legal action will be taken against those who are not allowing health staff inside,” said Panchu Gopal Roy, acting chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality. “So long we have been carrying out clean-up drives, and fogging and spraying insecticides outside apartments and houses. Now we have decided to send teams inside.”
A section of residents alleged negligence on the part of the civic body and said lack of adequate cleanliness drive was responsible for the rising number of dengue cases.
“Let alone vector control teams, municipal teams are not even clearing garbage regularly because of which there are pools of stagnant water,” said Basudeb Maity, who stays in a Nagerbazar apartment complex, under Dum Dum Municipality.
An official of the municipality said they would step up the anti-mosquito drive.
Health department officials said intensive intervention by entering houses and apartments was the need of the hour.
The mosquitoes may not be spreading the virus to the members of the house where they were breeding but could affect neighbours.
“Any resistance will only add to the number of the infected. We have observed that in many cases the entire family is getting afflicted after one member is testing positive for dengue,” said a health department official.
“In most of these houses, residents do not use mosquito nets.”
Senior officials of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said places like Baguiati, Arjunpur and Rajarhat had reported the maximum number of dengue cases.
