Aedes mosquito larvae density has reportedly been found to be low at 98 wards of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
Dr Shahnila Ferdousi, director of Communicable Disease Control (CDC) under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), made the statement during an online press briefing on dengue and chikungunya prevention from the DGHS conference room on Tuesday.
The ‘Seasonal Aedes Survey’ was conducted in 2,996 houses of 100 areas under 98 wards of DSCC and DNCC from March 5 to March 15.
Despite the aedes mosquito larvae density not being at a threatening level, people have to remain vigilant from now on, said Dr Shahnila, who is also the line director of National Malaria Elimination Program.
She said: “The Breteau Index (BI) of aedes mosquito was zero in 56 wards, and ranged from 10 to 13.3 in the remaining inspected wards. The density of aedes mosquitoes is considered hazardous when the BI is 20 or above.”
BI refers to the number of infected water containers per 100 houses inspected.
“As usual, some aedes mosquito larvae have been found in objects like plastic drums, buckets, cups, thrown away food packets, water stored in the buildings under construction and discarded toys,” she added.
She noted that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had emphasized the government’s readiness to prevent dengue and chikungunya in addition to addressing the coronavirus situation.
“As part of 'Mujib Borsho', April 2020 has been declared 'Dengue & Chikungunya Month',” she added.
She also appealed to citizens to take some preventive measures on their own.
Dr Shahnila remarked: “We are all remaining in our own homes to maintain social distance in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In the meantime, we urge people to keep their houses, gardens and roofs clean and encourage others to do so as well, instead of just depending on city corporations,.”
The doctor also recommended using mosquito nets while sleeping.
She mentioned that 41,700 dengue detection kits were delivered to the civil surgeon offices of 64 districts in February. They will be sent to different upazilas from there.
In addition, DGHS, its Hospitals and Clinics branch, and Access to Information (a2i) have created an app—now in experimental phase—which can show the overall dengue situation, patients’ conditions, and areas of risk.
Dengue Tracking and Management Dashboard, to be opened to all hospitals and general people gradually, will help the government adopt integrated ideas based on advanced data screening to prevent the epidemic or prevalence of dengue, commented Dr Shahnila.