In the wake of rising dengue and chikungunya cases, the Uttar Pradesh government has directed all school students to wear full-sleeved shirts and full trousers. The Secondary Education Department of the state has already issued guidelines in this regard.
The guidelines have been sent to all the district inspectors of schools regarding the measures to be taken to protect students from vector-borne and communicable diseases, as per a report by IANS. Secondary Education Director Mahendra Dev said it was necessary that schools should play a role in making the students and their parents aware of these diseases, so as to be saved from them. "Students should be directed to come to school in full shirts and trousers. Children should be compulsorily informed about these diseases and the problems arising out of them in the daily prayer meetings," he said.
"Regular cleaning of open water tanks and hand-pumps on the premises should be done. It should be ensured that there is no water logging anywhere in the school premises and neighbourhood. It should be ensured that multiple handwashes are encouraged and the spraying of anti-larval insecticides in the school premises is also done. School premises and neighbourhood should be kept clean and bushes should be cut," the Director said. "Public awareness rallies should also be taken out in villages," he added.
"If any child has developed symptoms like fever, they should be treated immediately. For this, the cooperation of the primary health centre should be sought immediately," Dev added further. Meanwhile, in a review meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that cases of dengue and other infectious diseases had gone up in the past few weeks. However, despite several measures to check mosquito-borne diseases, 36 new dengue cases were reported in Lucknow on Sunday, November 13. Among the new cases, four each were reported in the Chandar Nagar and Indira Nagar areas, followed by three each in Aishbagh, Chinhat, Tudiyaganj, NK Road and Aliganj, as per IANS.
The Health Department team served notices to six house owners on Sunday after finding mosquito larvae on their premises. As per official data, 1,369 units of platelets are available in the blood banks. Besides, 248 beds are kept reserved for dengue patients at hospitals in the state.
