GHMC to launch special drive to prevent chikungunya cases

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is to undertake a special drive and conduct anti-larvae operations from October 3 to prevent chikungunya cases. The GHMC Commissioner Amrapali Kara directed officers to take up a survey across the Greater Hyderabad limits.

She said that anti-larval operations and fogging should be taken up to check mosquito breeding grounds around 50-100 houses in areas where a case of chikungunya is reported. She asked officials to visit locked houses, construction sites, function halls, and open plots and educate representatives of the Resident Welfare Association on precautions to be taken to prevent chikungunya.

The commissioner also directed officers to create awareness on clearing water from storage tanks, drums, and coolers and remove empty coconut shells and tyres. Amrapali Kata suggested that pits with stagnant water should be covered, oil balls released in dirty water, and Gambushia fish in fresh water.

She directed the staff to carry out anti-larvae operations in apartments and cellars. She asked officials to collect the patient’s details, including address, related to chikungunya and register them in government/private hospitals. Entomology programmes must be conducted widely to control chikungunya in the field.