Bhubaneswar: Orissa on Saturday cancelled the leave of doctors working in three state-run medical colleges after a spurt in dengue cases in 11 of the state's 30 districts.
The three medical college-cum-hospitals, which are also the main testing centres for the mosquito-borne disease, are in Cuttack, Berhampur and Burla towns.
"There was no report of any death Friday. However, 54 new positive cases have been reported," a senior state health official said.
He said 82 samples were tested in Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, 26 km from here, Friday and 54 of them were found positive.
With the latest cases, the total number of people infected by the virus in the state in about a fortnight has increased to 132, he said.
The districts from where dengue cases have been reported so far are Angul, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Nuapada and Sundargarh.
The disease is, however, concentrated in Angul district, which reported the highest 106 positive cases, he said.
A three-member team of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, led by its deputy director Kalpana Barua, rushed to Angul Saturday to assess the situation.
IANS
First Published: Saturday, August 13, 2011, 12:42