City records first positive case

BHUBANESWAR: Even as dengue claimed three more lives in the State, the Capital City reported its first positive case on Friday. A 20-year-old man was diagnosed with dengue. He was undergoing treatment at a private hospital of the City. The youth was discharged after being cured, sources in State Disease Surveillance Cell said. Of the five positive cases detected at the Capital Hospital on Friday, three came in from Angul while Khurda district reported two, including the one in Bhubaneswar. The other one was from Patanibar, near Khurda. With Bhubaneswar reporting dengue, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Health Department swung into action. Urban Development Minister Sarada Nayak convened a meeting of senior officials of the Department in the afternoon. The meeting decided that the City Health Office of the BMC can engage more personnel on contract basis if need arises. At present, 178 persons are engaged in the anti-dengue exercise in the City. Mayor Anant Narayan Jena said the health officer can invite tender for labour contract and employ more persons for the sanitation work for the next couple of months. The BMC has divided its focused group into three teams _ each of which visits three wards daily. “The entire 60 wards are covered in a week by this process. If this group needs strengthening, we will go ahead,” Jena said. The meeting was attended by Jena, Secretary, Urban Development, Saurabh Garg,  BDA Vice-Chairman DK Singh, also in-charge Municipal Commissioner, besides medical officers. Corporators, who took part, were sensitised on the killer disease and how to keep it at bay. Similarly, knowledge sharing on sanitation methodology to eliminate breeding sources were also held. The killer fever claimed two more lives on the day (both reported from City-based private hospitals), while another death, reported from Jharsuguda, was confirmed. One Rangalal Samal from Sankhapada village of Angul died at Bibekananda Hospital while Gautam Pradhan of Pallahara succumbed at Hi-Tech Hospital. With the deaths, the toll has climbed to 23.   On the day, at least 120 blood samples were tested in SCB, MKCG and Capital Hospital. Six positive cases came in from the SCB while five cases were detected in MKCG. Of the 11 cases, five reports came from Ganjam while Angul reported six. So far 838 persons have been diagnosed dengue positive out of 1,945 samples which were tested at different hospitals. With 382 cases, Angul remains the epicentre of the outbreak while Jajpur with 96, Cuttack with 86 and Dhenkanal with 89 cases follow.