‘Rains may escalate breeding of dengue larvae’

Rawalpindi:The present spell of rains could escalate the breeding of dengue larvae, which needed immediate steps to tackle it.

Deputy Commissioner Hassan Waqar Cheema said this while chairing a meeting to review anti-dengue arrangements here at his office. He directed the departments concerned to implement Anti-dengue SOPs in letter and spirit and create awareness among the people about the hazardous virus.

Cheema directed the officials that after conducting indoor and outdoor surveillance, completely clear the areas affected by the dengue virus last year. The DC also asked the people to remove stagnant water in outdoor and household settings to stop mosquitoes from breeding after rain and submerged water.

Meanwhile, the District Healthy Authority had sealed 47 premises and lodged 47 FIRs on violations of anti-dengue SOPs from January 1 to date, said District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control Dr Sajjad Mehmood.

The health officer said that the district administration, in collaboration with allied departments had issued tickets to 112 and a fine of Rs199,000 was imposed on violations of dengue SOPs in 2024. Dr Sajjad informed that around four confirmed cases had been reported in the district this year, while the number was two in 2022, and 2023 during the period.

The health officer further stated that during indoor vector surveillance, the teams checked 1,177,167 houses and larvae were detected at 2,254 sites while during outdoor surveillance larvae were found at 557 spots while inspecting 305,512 places.