The number of coronavirus cases in the country is increasing rapidly and Maharashtra continues to be the most affected state in India. On one hand, while the state has more than seven lakh coronavirus cases, officials have asked people to stay alert as they have identified several mosquito breeding spots which could lead to the spread of malaria and dengue.
The pest control department of the Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) had recently undertaken a project to destroy the mosquito breeding spots, and as per reports, over the last eight months, i.e. from January 1 to August 24, 2020, a total of 35,151 areas of dengue-spreading mosquitos and 8,456 areas of malaria-spreading mosquitos have been cleared.
Besides this, a total of 71,51,180 possible sites of Aedes mosquitoes that spread dengue were investigated. Out of these 35,151 places were identified destroyed. Origin of Anopheles mosquitoes, which spread malaria was investigated at 2,57,909 locations, and a total of 8,456 places were identified and destroyed. Moreover, officials from the department have removed 3,23,579 small and big items, and 11,153 tyres which can store water and spread the infection.
This special drive was carried out from August 6 in the A-division of the municipality, under which a total of 6,508 buildings were inspected by the Pesticides Department during the operation. Of these, 829 places where Anopheles mosquitoes could breed were destroyed.
Additional squads of pesticide department were sent to the south division of the corporation, where 20,232 locations were inspected by these teams, out of which 152 were destroyed. Furthermore, from the E-division of the municipality, a total of 4,326 origins were investigated, and 163 were removed.