New Delhi
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged the citizens to inspect their homes for mosquito breeding for three more weeks as a part of the ‘10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute’ campaign to prevent an outbreak of dengue in the city.
The campaign, which began in September and will run till mid-November, calls on the people to clean all vessels containing stagnant water in their homes and check for mosquito larvae for ten weeks, on Sundays, at ten o’clock.
He posted a video of himself and his wife changing the stagnant clean water in the vessel of a bamboo plant on twitter with the message, “Me and Sunita changed the clean water gathered in our house. Everyone needs to check (for breeding) only for three more weeks. And, your family will continue to remain safe from dengue the way they are.”
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also shared a photo of his home inspection and said, “10 Hafte10Baje10Minute again this morning, and every Sunday for the fight against Dengue. Now there is no spot left for mosquitoes to breed.”
The campaign was modelled on the ‘Earth Hour’ where people turn off their lights just for an hour to conserve electricity and the environment. People cleaning out their homes once every seven days can prevent the breeding of aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits diseases like dengue and chikungunya as they need clean stagnant water and take eight to ten days for breeding.
{{/usCountry}}The campaign was modelled on the ‘Earth Hour’ where people turn off their lights just for an hour to conserve electricity and the environment. People cleaning out their homes once every seven days can prevent the breeding of aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits diseases like dengue and chikungunya as they need clean stagnant water and take eight to ten days for breeding.
{{/usCountry}}Just after the monsoon season between September and October when the number of breeding sites increase the maximum number of cases of the mosquito-borne diseases are recorded.
Delhi has recorded 356 cases of dengue so far this year. Compared to this, 7,606 cases had been recorded in 2015 when Delhi witnessed an outbreak, affecting nearly 16,000 people and killing 60.
“The outbreak happened when our government had taken over. There was no time for preventive measures and we ensured that everyone received proper treatment. In the years after that we worked on prevention and the number of dengue cases has come down by 80%. Experts told us that dengue usually makes a comeback in 3 to 4 years, and we were worried that there might be a surge again. But our campaign received so much support and so far the number of cases are lower than last year,” said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain.