Bhubaneswar, July 25: The health and family welfare department is preparing to prevent vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria.

Dengue is spreading its tentacles in the city with 20 cases being reported on Saturday. The health officials had a meeting with officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation yesterday and asked them to take preventive measures to avoid spreading of the diseases here.

The recent showers and the waterlogging has made the situation worse. A health official said they held a brief discussion with the civic body officials and decided to take over the job to spread awareness on the diseases at ground level.

"We are not going to depend on the civic body for the awareness drive, but they will ensure that the drains remain clean and there is no stagnant water," said the official.

At the meeting, the officials discussed that apart from the stagnant water in tyres at puncture-repair shops, stagnant water in discarded plastic tea-cups also provide perfect breeding sites for the mosquitoes spreading the diseases.

National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme deputy director Rajendra Kumar Mallick, who attended the meeting, said there was a need to educate citizens on the little-known facts about dengue. He said the floating population - mainly slum-dwellers - needed to be sensitised since they were the most vulnerable to the disease.

Mallik said Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for dengue, never laid eggs in polluted water but always searched for stagnant and clean water. He said: "It is the duty of everyone to dispose of water collected in all thrown-out plastic containers, cups and plates made of thermocol materials, coconut shells, used tyres, air coolers, flower pots and all other such places."

The city has three centres dealing with dengue patients - Capital Hospital, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and Regional Medical Research Centre.

Besides, the health department, the public health engineering organisation, public works department, school and mass education department, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and the National Health Mission also intend to help spread awareness about the disease in the city.