KMC to start week-long malaria prevention drive
In sync with World Malaria Day today, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has announced a host of measures to prevent the disease.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has kicked off facilities for collecting swab samples from residences of persons who have been put on home quarantine while samples will also be collected, for Covid-19 tests, from KMC markets in the city.
The member of KMC board in charge of health department, Mr Atin Ghosh, told the press, “We have increased surveillance in areas of the city to keep record of growing number of Covid-19 cases in an area and also whether the number of affected, have come down. We are arranging for provisions to collect samples of persons who are on home quarantine and in institutional quarantine.”
He added, “For the purpose, we are increasing the fleet of vehicles that are being used to visit areas and collect samples. We will conduct the same in market areas too. Additionally, we are also collecting samples from persons suffering from flu symptoms for more than a week. Swab tests are also conducted on them.”
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For areas with denser population such as in slums, the Covid-19 positive patients are being taken to government hospitals and their close contacts, for institutional quarantine. Few inside slums are being advised home quarantine.
It is because in such zones the chances of transmission is high because of usage of common toilets and drinking water taps, remarked Mr Ghosh who reminded that family members of a Covid-19 patient who is being treated at home, must wear masks. He pointed out that the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission has been appealed to cross-check test reports of patients who have got their tests from private facilities.
This is just to ensure no one is fishing for profit in these pandemic times, said Ghosh. Simultaneously, the KMC has decided to release Guppy fish in the fountains of the city as a measure to curb dengue. These fish would keep breeding of mosquitoes in check, believes the the civic body.
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