Dengue cases have come down: Officials

The confirmed dengue cases in the city have come down, and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) attributes this to the public awareness regarding the disease.

The civic body had earmarked Rs 8 crore for mosquito-control in its Budget for 2018-19. It has reduced the fogging exercise as the cases are coming down.

According to the BBMP officials, the number of dengue cases has drastically come down.

“When compared to the last year, where there were 7,291 confirmed dengue cases reported, this year only 861 cases were reported,” said, Manoranjan Hegde, chief health officer, BBMP.

“We carry out fogging in areas where the mosquito density is more. We receive complaints especially from the outskirts of the city. We are fogging wherever we get complaints,” he added.

The officials also said his year they got more complaints from Kempapura, Mediwala and East zone.

Dr Shivakumar, project coordinator in Public Health Information and Epidemiological Cell (PHIEC) of BBMP said, “the main reason for the decrease in the dengue case is the increased public awareness about the disease and also by keeping the surrounding area clean.”

However, the BBMP data shows that the East Zone continues to report more dengue cases. Around 365 cases have been confirmed from this zone from January to September this year.

The residents of Indiranagar, Bellandur and Mahadevapura also complain about the mosquito menace.

Nalini Harish, a resident of Bellandur, said the garbage mismanagement by the civic authority is the reason for the growing mosquito menace in the area.

“The garbage is not cleared and when it rains the mosquitoes start breeding in these black spots,” Nalini added.

Sumukhi Deshpande, a resident of Indiranagar, said, “stagnant sewage water in our vicinity is drawing mosquitoes. Despite several complaints, the civic body has not taken action to curb the mosquito menace.”