Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah orders urgent steps to rein in dengue

BENGALURU: Chief minister Siddaramaiah issued urgent directives to tackle the spike in dengue cases in the state following a high-level meeting with health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and senior officials Tuesday.
The meeting focused on ensuring the availability of essential treatments, medicines and platelets across govt hospitals.
This year, the state reported 5,374 dengue cases and five fatalities till Monday.The fatality rate of 0.09% is well below the central govt’s guideline of 0.5%. The most-affected districts include Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Mysuru, Haveri, Shivamogga, Chitradurga and Dakshina Kannada. In BBMP limits alone, there have been 1,230 reported cases, officials said.
A special mission will be launched to carry out source-reduction activities every Friday. Siddaramaiah instructed BBMP, urban development department and health officials to conduct joint reviews of the dengue situation across the state. Urban local bodies have been directed to take sanitation measures and prevent water accumulation.
The CM appealed to the public to cooperate with the authorities by destroying aedes aegypti larvae at source. tnn