GUWAHATI, Sept 21 - Incidents of dengue in the city have reported a decline during recent days and health authorities are expecting a further slide in the number of dengue cases by October.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune today, Joint Director of Health Services of Kamrup Metro Dr Ganesh Saikia said that dengue cases in the district have fallen in September as compared to the peak in August.
However, some cases of dengue are still being reported at intervals from certain localities in the city. �The numbers are down as compared to August and if this trend continues we expect that by October the situation will improve substantially,� Dr Saikia said.
He added that from January this year till today, a total of 1,195 dengue cases have been reported in Kamrup Metro. There were two cases in January, one in February, two in March, one in April, 12 in May, 22 in June, 182 in July, 621 in August and 352 so far in September.
All were Type 1 dengue cases and there has been no case of Type 2 dengue, which is considered far more dangerous.
Guwahati has so far this year witnessed two deaths from dengue.
Among the dengue �hot-spots�, Amerigog locality reported a number of cases in July and August, but incidences have come down in September. But cases continue to arise in certain other localities like Lalganesh, Udalbakra, Kahilipara, Dhirenpara and Fatasil, among others.
�Dengue has in a sense become localised or indigenised in Assam during the recent past. Earlier, most of the dengue patients in the State happened to be those who travelled to places like Delhi or Chennai or other areas. Now, it is the same. Besides, it is happening round the year and we even had cases in months like January and February,� Dr Saikia said.
He said while the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is engaged in fogging activities across the city, the health department is concentrating its efforts mainly in localities from where cases have been reported.
Fogging is compulsory around a radius of 400 metres from the epicenter of the place where any dengue case has been reported as that is the distance a mosquito can normally fly.
The health department has deployed all its six fogging machines. �GMC also has a number of machines at its disposal,� Dr Saikia said. He said no cases of chikungunya, that has become a menace in Delhi, have been reported in the city so far.