There’s some good news for the Mumbaikars amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis as the city has witnessed a sharp dip in the number of dengue cases compared with the previous year. The cases of dengue have dropped 86.49 percent in the city as compared to 2019.
Civic officials have attributed this drop nationwide lockdown imposed and timely action was taken by them, as well as the emphasis on preventive measures taken to curb the dengue cases.
According to the data provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), as many as 881 dengue cases were reported between January and November in 2019 which dropped to 119 during the same period this year, which is the lowest in the last five years.
Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC, said that since the pandemic outbreak, they have been on their toes to curb other illnesses which have always taken a toll on Mumbaikars health. They have been taking preventive measures and have created awareness amongst the citizens about water-borne diseases and to take extra precautions.
“Though we had started late preparation for water-borne diseases, we can keep it under control. All efforts taken by the health and insecticide department have yielded good results. On a larger scale, we carried our sanitation and fumigation work. We also oiled the stagnant water to destroy the breeding ground of the mosquitoes,” he said.
Moreover, data provided by the insecticide department, they have destroyed 62,872 breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes that spread dengue between January and November this year as compared to 51,509 which was done in 2019 during the same period. The highest number of breeding grounds was found in wards E (Byculla) and G/South (Elphinstone).
Dr Monica Goel, Consultant Physician, PD Hinduja Hospital & MRC, said current COVID-19 pandemic, which started way back at the end of March, gripped the city, officials, BMC, paramedics, and the common people in fear and uncertainty. They did see a few dengue cases in monsoon and post-monsoon around August to October. This time, the cause for the decline in dengue cases could be because of social distancing maintained during COVID-19.
“There was less construction and less rubble, which majorly favours the growth of the mosquito vector through which dengue spreads. The cleanliness probably was tried to be kept at a higher standard because we were looking at the spread of COVID-19 complications. Hence, the civic authorities did take precautions of fumigation and making sure that there was no litter garbage lying around. This is a lesson for all of us that dengue, malaria can sometimes be life-threatening, especially among people on certain drugs that can reduce their platelets,” she said.
