Amid the pandemic of Covid-19, vector borne disease dengue has announced its arrival in Uttarakhand. The state health department has reported two cases of dengue in Haridwar district.

 The health department has also sounded an alert on dengue and asked its officials to ensure that the disease is prevented from assuming epidemic proportions.

The chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has already directed the officers of administration and health department to remain prepared for dengue and undertake preventive measures.

The CM has requested the people of the state to spare 15 minutes on Sundays for ensuring that the mosquito breeding grounds in and around their houses are destroyed.

In Dehradun which is one of the hotspots of the disease the health department has undertaken an awareness drive in the colonies of the city.

 The district vector borne diseases officer Subhash Joshi told The Pioneer that the department is concentrating on source reduction of the mosquitoes.

 He said that the municipal corporation of Dehradun is undertaking extensive fogging in all the 100 wards of the city and teams of the health department are visiting the residential colonies.

 In an important decision the department has directed the private clinics and hospitals to inform it about the admitted dengue patients.

 “We have asked the private hospitals to get the ELISA test themselves. This would prevent unnecessary hassle of attendants of patients to get the dengue test done at a government hospital,’’ he said.

In view of the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital being kept reserved for Covid-19 patients, the health department has made isolation ward for dengue patients in the Gandhi centenary hospital, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (Coronation) hospital and Premnagar hospital. A total of 92 isolation beds are kept reserved in these hospitals.

It is pertinent to mention here that last year the vector borne disease had affected more than 10,500 persons in Uttarakhand and had taken many lives.

 In Dehradun district alone, the health department reported 4991 patients with six deaths. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic the health department is striving hard to ensure that the dengue does not assume epidemic proportions this year.

Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito.  The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints.