A special drive to check fever has been launched by the Health officials in Ahmedabad following 40,000 cases of viral epidemic being reported in the city in the last 5 days. Municipal Commissioner IP Gautam said, “About 1,000 paramedical staff will go house-to-house to give medicines.”
The illness caused by heavy rains and floods in Gujarat has led to hundreds of people being admitted to the hospitals with high fever and severe body aches. Officials said the illness was likely to be Chikungunya.“About 2,000 to 5,000 cases of viral fever are being reported daily in city hospitals,” said Dr. S.P. Kulkarni of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
The floods have also affected Surat, a city in south Gujarat, with 63 cases being reported so far with similar symptoms. Health officials have asked people not to visit crowed places and to clean stagnant water.
Meanwhile, the death of two people from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) had led to panic in Surat due to rumors of plague spreading across the city, but officials said that there was no plague scare in the city. The administration has been put on alert following the deaths caused by suspected HPS.
