LAHORE: The Cabinet Committee on Dengue has urged the residents of big cities of the province to drain water f rom their room coolers to check breeding of the mosquito causing the vector-borne disease.

Presided over by Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Khwaja Salman Rafique, a meeting of the committee wasinformedonWednesday that due to the vigorous indoor and outdoor surveillance, dengue larva was being reported in large quantity, which was very helpful to check the growth of dengue mosquitoes.

Reports from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and other big cities suggested that water accumulated in room coolers has become a big source of dengue larva breeding.

The meeting was informed that out of the 98 confirmed dengue patients reported in Punjab during the current year, 79 belonged to Punjab while the remaining came here from other provinces.

The situation in Rawalpindi has been fully under control as only five [confirmed] dengue cases have so f ar been reported in the current year, compared to 49 [cases] last year.

Additional Director General of Dengue Control Programme, Dr Farrukh Sultan, who had been in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa capital in connection with the dengue control activities, said due to lack of awareness, almost every house in Peshawar has become a dengue breeding hot spot.

Salman Rafique directed that dengue sensitive districts particularly Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore and Sheikhupura should be given special attention. He said due to the outbreak [of dengue] in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Rawalpindi administration should remain more vigilant and effective measures for dengue control should also be continued in the district.