Chennai: With rising mosquito menace complaints, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Tuesday used a drone to spray larvicide over the Cooum, while its vector-control teams removed nearly two tonnes of discarded tyres and other mosquito-breeding junk from across the city on Monday.GCC commissioner G S Sameeran inspected the trial around 10am near Madras Medical College (MMC) students’ hostel. The trial was held where the North Buckingham Canal meets the Cooum. Sameeran said this would counter Culexmosquitoes, a common genus of medium-sized mosquitoes, and their larvae. The civic body will use drones on waterways wider than 30m in every zone.The city recorded nearly 8,300 fever cases by the end of Sept. Of these, 1,775 tested positive for dengue. “Fever trends in the city have been high over the past two months,” Sameeran told reporters. But more than 90% of the cases are self-limiting, he said.GCC identified 539 mosquito-breeding hotspots where larval levels exceed the corporation’s threshold and is carrying out focused vector-control measures in these areas. The Breteau Index, which measures live mosquito larvae in 100 inspected houses, is now 0.46 in Chennai. While the index should not exceed 5, GCC designates areas with a reading above 0.1 as hotspots. GCC has also collected ₹7.2 lakh in fines for repeated violations such as dumping garbage or leaving water containers uncovered.Sameeran urged residents to remove small containers, cups, plates, broken items and old tyres from their surroundings.
