The Delhi Government’s “10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute” campaign has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number in cases of vector-borne diseases reported this year. According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) which tabulates the data on vector-borne diseases in the city, this week just 74 fresh cases of dengue were reported, taking the total number to 356 till October 5. In 2018, the number of cases reported by this time was almost double (650 cases).
Sharing the data, the Chief Minister tweeted, “I am very happy to share that the #10Baje10Hafte10Minute campaign against Dengue has shown stunning results. Congrats to the people of Delhi! The number of cases reported in Delhi so far is just 356, compared to 650 by this time last year. Most importantly, we have not yet lost a single life.”
In 2015, Delhi had 7,606 cases of Dengue until the first week of October, while in 2016 and 2017 the number was at 2,133 and 2,152 respectively. The Delhi Government’s fight against dengue started in 2015, when the city saw a massive outbreak leading to 15,867 cases and as many as 60 deaths.
The Government ramped up its preparedness for dengue since 2015 and deployed dedicated resources to combat Dengue. By 2018, the results were in, and the number of cases had reduced by 80 per cent to just 2,798. Similarly, in 2015, 60 people had lost their lives to Dengue, which reduced to 4 deaths by 2018. This year, not a single death has been reported so far.
“I strongly believe that the impacts of this campaign will not be limited to this year alone. The awareness and education that this campaign has resulted in will help Delhi fight Dengue every year,” Kejriwal said.
“One of the most important purposes of the campaign was to educate people about the origins of the Dengue mosquito. Before I began the campaign on 1st September, I had conducted a survey on my social media profiles about whether Dengue breeds in clean water or dirty water, and over 35 per cent people stated that Dengue breeds in dirty water. We realised that the myths round Dengue have to be clarified so that people are better prepared to fight Dengue,” the CM added.
The mega awareness programme was conceptualised along the lines of the earth hour, where people were encouraged on a large scale to inspect their homes every Sunday morning at 10 am for ten minutes, for ten consecutive weeks to fight such diseases at its source.
Explaining the rationale behind the stress on a weekly inspection, the Chief Minister said, “The dengue mosquito’s egg turns into a full grown mosquito in 8 to 10 days. So if we allow clean stagnant water to remain still for more than 7 to 8 days, it will definitely increase the chances for the mosquito to breed.”
The Chief Minister credits the massive participation of people in the campaign. Throughout the last five weeks, many people, including celebrities, have joined the fight against dengue. The Chief Minister had also appealed to all employees of all offices, whether Government or private, to inspect their offices every Friday morning at 11 am led by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev, the entire bureaucrats of the Delhi Government had joined the campaign.
“While the spread of Dengue gains momentum in the monsoon months of July-August-September, this year has shown consistent comparative decrease in Dengue related cases in every month. Change in monsoon patterns and prolonged monsoon has resulted in outbreak of dengue in various states across the country,” Government said in a statement.
With the number of cases reaching the many thousands, preparedness and prevention action plan has helped Delhi stay ahead of the vector borne disease and protected the people from suffering, it said.
Meanwhile, the total number of patients suffering from malaria has reached to 419 this year with at least 51 fresh cases reported last week of October. While, 10 new cases of chikungunya also reported in last week, taking the total number of patients suffering from the disease to 97, according to a municipal report released on Monday. As per the data, mosquito-breeding has been reported in at least 1, 49,222 households and 11, 9,815 legal notices have been issued this year.
