Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Though anti-dengue programmes in areas under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) have been hit due to the coronavirus pandemic, similar drives are underway in full swing in rural areas of the Siliguri Sub-Division.
Simultaneous Covid-19 and dengue surveys are being carried out house-tohouse in the four blocks of Matigara, Naxalbari, Kharibari and Phansidewa under the sub-division, it is learnt.
“The routine anti-dengue programmes started in March and it has not been affected even during the lockdown period. The larval habitat destruction process is also going on,” said an official of the Darjeeling district health department.
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Village surveillance teams (VST), which conducts the survey, have 420 members, and most of them are women, while vector-control teams (VCT) consist of 246 members.
The VCTs conduct spraying and remove stagnant water. There are 22 gram panchayats (GP) in the four blocks of the sub-division. Each GP has one supervisor. The VSTs and VCTs are directed by the supervisors.
“The routine vector management programmes are going on in the rural areas for the past few months,” said the sabhadhipati of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP) Tapas Sarkar.
Sources said the VSTs report to the GPs if they find fever cases and if there is water accumulation. The GPs inform the block medical officer of health on specific issues in the areas.
According to officials, though there were some Covid-19 cases, no dengue case had been recorded in the blocks so far. Like previous year, guppy fishes will be released in the water bodies this year also. Guppy fish are known to feed on mosquito larvae and microbes.
“More than three lakh guppy fish will be released soon. We are monitoring the dengue situation,” said the SMP assistant executive officer, Prem Kumar Bardewa.
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