Cuttack, Feb. 24: The civic body today extended door-to-door survey for detection of jaundice patients to two more wards following detection of cases in areas adjoining Matha Sahi in ward No. 8.

"We have pressed into service around 236 urban Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) for the survey in ward Nos. 9 and 10 for detection and immediate treatment," city health officer P.K. Pradhan told The Telegraph.

Pradhan said ASHA workers have also been given 60,000 water purifier halogen tablets for distribution. "We are also prioritising the spread of awareness," he said.

According to Pradhan, six public health managers and 67 health workers have been deployed for inspection of jaundice cases.

So far, 76 jaundice patients have been detected. While 54 have been detected in four localities of Matha Sahi since December, adjoining areas in ward Nos. 9 and 10 have reported the rest in the past two days.

The outbreak has been attributed to contamination of drinking water due to leakage in pipelines. However, the source of the contamination is yet to be traced. Sources said the civic body had detected leakage in 85 pipeline connections to households at Matha Sahi. Most of them had to be disconnected for realignment due to proximity to drains. But the replacement and realignment process had slowed down due to the ongoing Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica)-funded sewerage network construction project.

"Keeping the urgency of the situation in view, we have now decided to continue the pipeline repair and realignment work in consultation and with officials of the Jica project," executive engineer (PHD-1, Cuttack) Sushant Ghadei told The Telegraph today.