Chandigarh : Haryana Health department’s survey regarding the suspected fever outbreak at village Chilli and Chilla, SC-Gohpur PHC Uttawar, CHC-Hathin in Palwal district reveals that out of the seven deaths, two deaths were reported to be of children below 5 years of age and five deaths were of children above 5 years of age.
It came to light during the investigations being conducted that the prima facie, probable cause of outbreak could be the unhygienic conditions and illegal drinking water pipe connections that led to contamination of drinking water, however, the final cause of deaths among these children can only be commented upon after completion of epidemiological investigation.
Sharing more in this regard on Wednesday, Mr Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary of the Health Department, said that information regarding suspected fever deaths among children in village Chilli and Chilla was received by the Palwal district health authorities and in order to assess the ground situation, District Rapid Response Team was activated by Palwal Civil Surgeon and sent to the area affected. An epidemiological investigation was ordered in coordination with WHO representative, he added.
He elaborated that the population of the affected villages Chilli and Chilla is 2947 and 763 with total of 186 and 72 households respectively. This outbreak started on September 9, 2021.
The ACS said that the Rapid Response Team visited the affected area on September 12, 2021 to investigate the outbreak and household survey was done wherever deaths were reported. Furthermore, as per ongoing epidemiological investigation, House to House active case search for fever cases is being done by the health teams and total 1089 houses have been visited and checked till yesterday.