In view of dengue outbreak, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has continued the search and destroy campaign to kill dengue-carrying mosquitos and larvae. Under the campaign, door-to-door awareness programmes have taken place wherein people have been asked to fill pools and clean house surroundings and cover open openings and flower vessels, Balaram Tripathi, chief of the public health department, KMC.

The drive started at all 32 wards from August 30 following interactions with local people’s representatives, women health volunteers and representatives of local institutions, he said. Under this, the KMC has started rapid diagnostic tests at ward clinics at ward-19, 26 and 30 from today.

According to doctors, the viruses are transmitted through the bites of infected Aedes species mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti or aedes albopictus). Common symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, severe muscle and joint pain and pain behind the eyes.

Dengue was first detected in Nepal in 2004. Its cases increased in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019. Around 18,000 dengue cases were found in 2019. The mosquito-borne viral disease, which was mostly detected in the Tarai, has been increasingly found in mountainous cities including Kathmandu and Pokhara since 2018, it has been said.