Over 2,000 notices issued for violating dengue SOPS

DA official says around 130 premises sealed since January this year

RAWALPINDI:

The District Health Authority (DHA) had issued 2,299 notices and imposed a fine of Rs419,500 to various violators for not following anti-dengue SOPs from January 1 to date.

District Coordinator Epidemics Prevention and Control (DCEPC) Dr Sajjad Mehmood, while giving details of the punitive actions, said that the DHA had registered 114 FIRs, sealed 130 premises, Challaned 423, issued notices to 2,299 and a fine of Rs419,500 imposed on violations of SOPs in various areas of the district.

The authority had completed three indoor and seven outdoor surveillance cycles, he said, adding 1,334 anti-dengue teams during indoor surveillance from January 1 to date, checked 3,898,804 houses and found dengue larvae at 9,896 homes. Similarly, he informed that 597 teams during outdoor surveillance inspected 1,582,383 spots and detected larvae at 1,071 places.

Meanwhile, Dr Sajjad said that 51 more dengue fever suspects had been brought to the district's health facilities during the last 24 hours, of which two were declared probable and one non-dengue. He updated that the dengue fever condition was under control in Rawalpindi, and only 13 cases had been reported this year while the health department has devised a comprehensive policy to cope with any situation.

The health officer added that prevailing weather had increased the threat of mosquito breeding which needed to be tackled on an emergency basis, as the Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast more rains in coming days. He said that puddles of water, which get stagnant due to rain, become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and spread diseases like malaria and dengue fever. He said that a full-scale fumigation drive was being carried out in different district localities, mainly where dengue larvae had been found.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2022.