Noman Mosharef :
Dhaka city corporations have launched their all-out efforts to destroy Aedes mosquitoes and their breeding grounds.
The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) on Tuesday launched a 20-day ‘combing operation’.
Renowned educationalist Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed inaugurated the drive at Dr Fazle Rabbi Park in the city’s Gulshan area in the morning, along with Mayor and top officials of the DNCC.
After launching of the drive, DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam said owners will be fined if Aedes larvae are is found in any houses under his city corporation after 20 days.
The DNCC mayor said their inspection teams will visit houses in each area during the combing operation and if they find Aedes larvae are found in any of the houses, they will hang a notice, which reads ‘Aedes larvae were found at this house’.
Describing it as the initial warning, he said, they will warn the house owners again if larvae are found there after 10 days. “And finally, they’ll be fined if the situation is found to the same during the next visit after another 10 days.”
The combing operation will be conducted in 36 wards first, Atiqul said, adding that the newly added 18 wards will be brought under it later.
On the other hand, Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) at a cleanness programme at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on Tuesday expressed the hope to control the dengue outbreak by the first week of September.
“As all organisations of the government with directives of the Prime Minister are working with all efforts to control the outbreak, we hope, we will be able to do this by the first week of September,” Sayeed Khokon said.
He further said that the numbers of dengue infections and Aedes mosquito prevalence have started to come down as the authorities have engaged all-out effort to destroy breeding grounds of the mosquitoes.
The DSCC has already launched drives at 58,748 houses under the city corporation to destroy Aedes mosquito larvae. Besides, the members of Bangladesh Scout have carried out inspections in 111,000 houses in a bid to destroy Aedes larvae, Khokon said.
Meanwhile, two more dengue patients died in Keraniganj of Dhaka and Faridpur district on Monday night, although there is a downtrend in fresh dengue cases across the country. Of the deceased, a rickshaw-puller identified as Shaheb Ali, 35, died in Faridpur while a housewife, Fatema, 45, died at Mitford Hospital.
In Faridpur, Shaheb Ali of Matikanda in Sadar upazila of Rajbari district was admitted to Faridpur Medical College Hospital with fever on Monday, said Mahfuzur Rahman Bulu, an assistant director at the hospital.
He breathed his last around 10:30 pm yesterday.
Seven people have so far died of dengue at this hospital, he said
At least 70 people infected with dengue were admitted to this hospital in the last 24 hours, raising the number of dengue patients to 357.
Besides, Fatema, hailing from Bandar upazila in Narayanganj district, died at Mitford Hospital on Monday after being diagnosed with dengue.
Some 105 new patients with dengue fever were admitted to this hospital in the last 24 hours as of Tuesday while 81 people got released from the hospital after taking dengue treatment.
At least 1,572 patients were hospitalised in 24 hours till 8:00am on Tuesday across the country, according to Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of dengue patients was 1,615 on Monday while 1,706 on Sunday, 1,460 on Saturday, 1,719 on Friday, 1,929 on Thursday and 1,880 on Wednesday respectively.
The government has so far confirmed the deaths of 40 people, although unofficial estimates suggest the death toll is much higher.
Currently, 6,470 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals and clinics across the country. Of them, 3, 413 are hospitalised in the capital and 3,057 around the country.
