With another case, Zika tally touches 11 in Kanpur

Kanpur: Kanpur has reported one more case of Zika virus, taking the tally to 11.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Kanpur, Dr Nepal Singh, said that pathology samples of a 42-year-old woman from Shiv Katra, sent to the KGMU lab in Lucknow and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, tested positive for the virus on Monday.

So far, 11 people, including three IAF staff from in Chakeri area, have tested positive for the infection.

"The surveillance team took the sample of the woman, who is asymptomatic, and sent it for test. She has been kept under observation. Samples of her family members, relatives and people in contact will be collected on Tuesday. Anti-larva spray, cleaning and fogging will also be done by the surveillance teams in the area," said the CMO.

In a statement, district magistrate Visakh G Iyer said that there is no need to panic. "Zika virus does not spread by contact or aerosols instead it is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also causes dengue and chikungunya. It can easily be curtailed by strict surveillance and awareness," he said.

Meanwhile, a house-to-house survey was conducted by 65 surveillance teams of health, civic, para-medical personnel and staff of local administration in the affected areas, including IAF station on Monday. The teams collected samples from across 12 localities spread in a radius of 3 km in Chakeri area. The teams also examined people having fever-like symptoms.

Till date, 1,745 samples have been collected," said the CMO and added that "Our surveillance teams are also sensitising people about the hazard of stagnant water and asking them to empty pots, containers and tanks filled with water."