Kerala - Alappuzha   

Steady rise in fever cases in Alappuzha district The Vector Trail

Staff Reporter

1,207 people sought treatment on Friday

ALAPPUZHA:The number of fever cases in the district is rising steadily with the daily average for the last four days being around 1,000 new cases. Friday had the maximum cases reported on a single day so far with 1,207 people approaching Government hospitals and healthcare centres across the district for treatment.

The total number of fever cases reported in the last four weeks is now over 18,000. On Friday, 104 people had to be admitted to hospitals while seven were suspected to have chikungunya. Chunakara reported 121 fresh cases while Chengannur had 98, Thrikkunnapuzha 58 and Muthukulam 87, to name a few.

Refuting reports that two cases of dengue were confirmed in the district, District Medical Officer N.N. Murali said that there were no fresh confirmations of chikungunya either on Friday. The only worry of the district administration was to control the rising fever cases, for which fogging operations and other anti-vector activities were being intensified, he added.

Meanwhile, with Chengannur regularly reporting over 100 news cases every day, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) member D. Vijayakumar has demanded that a 24-hour monitoring cell be set up at the Chengannur Municipal Office.

“The vector control activities in Chengannur, which is reporting more than 100 fever cases every day, are below par. Further, the Government Hospital here does not have adequate staff or doctors. The Government should sanction at least Rs.1 lakh for buying essential medicines and for vector-control activities here,” Mr. Vijayakumar said in a statement here.

State Virology Institute director Rajan Payyappilly, also denying reports that dengue cases were confirmed in Alappuzha, said that only three of the samples analysed on Thursday had shown weak positive signs and that these could not be considered dengue cases. The samples that were weak positive were one each from Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Idukki. The patients could have been exposed to the virus and become immune, or it could be an early stage of the disease, Dr. Payyappilly said. These could also be carry-overs of last year’s outbreak, the institute director said.

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Steady rise in fever cases in Alappuzha district The Vector Trail

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