Kolkata: The city has logged 461 dengue cases till Sept 6, sources in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.Ward 6 in north Kolkata, which covers parts of Chitpore and Cossipore, has reported over 50 cases, the highest in the city. An awareness rally has been planned in ward 6 on Monday. Rallies will be organised in 15 other wards, too.“We have identified ward 6 as a hotspot. 50 cases in one ward is a cause of concern. Though the number of new cases has been contained, we must keep a watch on the ward for some more time,” said an official.“This year, we have had only sporadic cases from most of the 144 wards, but in ward 6 we came across clustering of dengue cases. Several cases were reported from the area surrounding Lockgate Road, Karim Box Row and Lala Babu Lane,” said an official.Sources said no dengue cases has been reported from nearly 20 wards.Clustering means when several dengue cases are reported from the same neighbourhood. It is a signal that there could be a source, a mosquito breeding site in the area, which needs to be destroyed.Urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul and KMC’s administrator-cum-commissioner Smita Pandey are scheduled to take part in an awareness rally on Tuesday that will cut through parts of ward. “People need to know what measures will help in preventing dengue. Source reduction is important and it is not possible without people’s support,” said the KMC official.The civic body conducted a special drive on Sept 3, 4 and 5 in some of the affected areas. “We adopted a four-pronged strategy. One was detection and destruction of sources; the second was a survey to identify those with fever; campaign and collection of blood samples are the other two components,” said the official.“Those who were identified as having dengue in the survey were asked to provide their blood samples. The idea was to begin their treatment,” said the official.The website of the World Health Organisation says that “the dengue virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Mosquitoes can become infected by people who are viremic with dengue virus.
