To combat the breeding of disease-carrying mosquitoes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now introduced treatment in areas where rain water gets accumulated. During an extensive door-to-door campaign during the last two weeks in mumbai, the civic body officials discovered a total of 1,578 breeding places infested with malaria larvae and 10,659 places infested with dengue larvae.
From January to June, notices were issued to 7,693 residential and commercial premises, resulting in 262 court cases being filed against those who failed to prevent mosquito breeding. This legal action resulted in the imposition of a fine of 6.41 lakhs.
As a preventive measure, the Department of Insecticides annually identifies and destroys mosquito breeding sites. Some of these sites are inaccessible for manual intervention, forcing the BMC to use drones for disinfectant spraying in challenging areas such as Worli, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi.
Mosquitoes breed when water remains stagnant for more than a week. Hence, the Insecticides Department of BMC has started a city-wide door-to-door inspection initiative. The department's data shows that, from August 1 to 13, they screened 13,220 homes and 35,435 breeding sources for Anopheles mosquitoes, responsible for spreading malaria. In case of dengue-causing Aedes mosquitoes, 7,41,519 houses and 7,91,750 containers were inspected during the same period.
In the span of a week, Mumbai recorded 236 cases of malaria, adding to a total of 462 cases reported in the city between August 1 and 13. This figure closely aligns with the weekly trend, as there were 226 malaria cases reported between August 1 and 6.
However, mortality data is expected to be released next month. Among the three wards susceptible to vector-borne diseases (G-south, F-south), G-North ward has been effectively managing malaria. While the ward reported slightly over 165 cases last August, it has recorded nearly 40 cases so far this year.
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