The Centre on Saturday flagged the issue of rising Serotype-2 dengue cases in at least 11 states in India which are leading to flooding of hospitals with fever patients, many of whom are succumbing to the disease, and asked them to carry out urgent fever surveys to quickly identify patients and triage them.

As per the official statement of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bhusan suggested the states undertake steps like early detection of cases, operationalisation of fever helplines and adequate stocking of testing kits, larvicides and medicines.

The Union Health Secretary also recommended deployment of rapid response teams for prompt investigation and necessary Public Health Action like fever survey, contact tracing, vector control, alerting blood banks for maintaining adequate stocks of blood and blood components, especially platelets.

The states reporting serotype - II dengue cases are:

• Andhra Pradesh
• Gujarat
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Madhya Pradesh
• Uttar Pradesh
• Maharashtra
• Odisha
• Rajasthan
• Tamil Nadu
• Telangana

There are four serotypes of the virus that causes the mosquito-borne disease dengue; DENV-2 is associated with more severe disease that can lead to fatal internal bleeding and shock. During a review of the Covid-19 situation, the states were asked to implement control measures during the festive season, monitor infections in children as schools reopen as well as breakthrough infections.

States were also instructed to undertake publicity campaigns regarding helplines, methods of vector control, source reduction at homes and to monitor symptoms of dengue.