BHUBANESWAR: Dengue outbreak has spread from the epicentre of Angul district to grip Cuttack and Jajpur districts in a more expansive manner even as the Government on Tuesday mustered all its departments to adopt a coordinated approach to tackle the situation. Though no deaths were officially reported on Tuesday, the proportion of positive cases has shot up, particularly in both the districts. Of the 83 samples tested at the SCB Medical at Cuttack on Tuesday, 47 were tested positive. Though Angul accounted for the most number of cases at 17, Cuttack recorded a high of 11 and Jajpur seven. Jharsuguda, Puri, Sundargarh and Kendrapara had one positive case each. A sharp rise dengue positive cases -- nine in Cuttack district and three in Jajpur district -- from Monday has raised concerns among health authorities. Of the 92 samples that were tested on Monday, only two were from Cuttack and four from Jajpur. The rise signals the spread of the disease to the Millennium City, posing a huge challenge to the Government and its agencies in handling the outbreak. The demography and the civic conditions in the city will make it difficult for the civic and health bodies if the situation explodes. The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has formed ward teams with seven staff members and supervisors to undertake cleaning and larvicidal spraying operations. Each team has been given charge of one ward with corporators monitoring their work. Special teams have also been deployed to move from door-to-door with leaflets and sensitise people on the preventive measures, Commissioner RN Nanda said. The Government has got all its departments from Health, Urban Development, Works, Panchayati Raj, Woman and Child Welfare, Rural Development, SC and ST Development and School and Mass Education to draw up a coordinated strategy to deal with the outbreak. A meeting of all Ministers and Secretaries was held on Tuesday with focus onintensifying sanitation and cleaning operations along with sensitising the people on preventive measures.The three-member Central team of Kalpana Baruah, CS Agarwal and Bhagirathi Dwivedi has also called for intensification of cleaning operations and awareness generation in the affected parts. The team wound up its visit to Angul district and recommended provisioning of dengue testing facilities in the MCL hospital. The MCL hospital should also have a public health unit, the team stated.
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