Water in used tyres at an automobile shop in Bhubaneswar are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes and (below) a corporation employee carries out fogging operation in Cuttack. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati and Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, July 21: Cuttack Municipal Corporation is struggling to contain dengue outbreak as fresh cases continue to be reported from different parts of the city, while in Bhubaneswar the civic body has intensified fogging from this evening.

After Rausapatna and Haripur, dengue scare now looms large over Nima Sahi, Pithapur, Rajabagicha, Mangalabag and Purighat areas.

So far out of 66 positive cases reported in Odisha, Cuttack’s count is 46. Yesterday, 11 persons were tested for dengue in Cuttack.

Though civic officials in Cuttack claim to have intensified anti-mosquito operations, local residents gheraoed health wing staff at Nima Sahi today. This happened when fogging machines developed technical snag during the operations at Nima Sahi.

“There has been a spurt in dengue cases while the civic body is yet to intensify its fogging operations in many wards where new cases have being detected,” said Mirzafar Ali, a resident of Jhola Sahi.

However, city health officer said P.K. Pradhan: “Intense fogging operations are on in the affected areas twice in a day.”

Pradhan said public awareness was necessary to deal with the situation as the mosquitoes bred in stagnant fresh water.

A special dengue ward is already operational at SCB Medical College and Hospital. The 50-bed ward has been set up at the Casualty and Trauma Care Centre.

Hospital officials said that no ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test was conducted today. However, 376 blood samples had been tested at the hospital and of those 66 were positive.

“At present 39 patients are undergoing treatment at the special dengue ward at SCB while seven dengue positive patients have already been discharged from the hospital,” said SCB emergency officer B.N. Moharana.

In Bhubaneswar, three suspected dengue patients were undergoing treatment at Capital Hospital. While one patient tested positive, two others are still under observation.

“We are ready for any kind of situation. However, people must adopt adequate preventive measures and use mosquito nets to be safe,’’ said director of Capital Hospital S.C. Mallick.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation today started fogging operations near Palasuni area. The exercise was also carried out in areas near Governor’s House, Kedarpalli near Sishu Bhavan Square and Pathar Bandha Basti near Vir Surendra Sai Nagar.

Civic health officer Chandrika Prasad Das said: “We are targeting areas where the density of mosquitoes might be high due to the presence of drainage channels or slum clusters. Already the civic body has constituted six teams to monitor cleanliness activities across the city.’’

Special cleaning teams have also been pressed into service to collect old tyres, used green coconuts and plastic cups. Das said violators would be penalised for defying cleanliness advice. Deputy director National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme Madan Mohan Pradhan also said that “the crux lies in preventive measures”.

The state government has also deployed 120 volunteers each for Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to generate awareness and prevent the spread of dengue.