India, Aug. 27 -- As Delhi enters the time of year when mosquito numbers usually rise, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is using new technology and ground checks to stop diseases like dengue before they spread. So far this year, the city has reported 272 cases of dengue, 95 cases of malaria, and 21 cases of chikungunya, with no deaths reported from these three diseases. However, weekly numbers are slowly going up, with 26 new dengue cases and 15 new malaria cases recorded in the week ending. One of the biggest problems for workers is reaching difficult areas, such as large swamps, dense weeds, and locked or hidden spaces where mosquitoes lay eggs. To solve this, the civic body started using flying drones to spray mosquito medicine over Naini Lake in Model Town. Mayor Pravesh Wahi explained that in places like swamps where a person cannot easily go to spray medicine, special arrangements have been made, adding that drone spraying will soon expand to other lakes and along the banks of the Yamuna River. Along with aerial spraying, city teams are conducting massive door-to-door checks on the ground. Health inspectors have already found mosquito breeding spots at more than 100,000 locations, issued over 81,000 legal warnings to property owners, and filed nearly 7,000 legal cases for unchecked breeding. In addition, workers have carried out anti-larval indoor spraying inside more than 350,000 homes across the capital.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.