Amidst growing concerns regarding the Zika virus situation in the city, scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)—National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune will train the health officials from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
This month PMC has reported five Zika virus infection cases, including a 28-year-old pregnant woman from Erandwane.
Dr Kalpana Baliwant, health officer of PMC, said the training will be conducted on Wednesday and experts from the NIV, Public Health Department and PMC health staff will be present for the training.
“The training will be conducted online, and the guidelines issued by the experts will be considered for further containment and management of Zika virus infection in the city,” she said.
As per officials, the NIV experts are likely to discuss the SOPs to prevent the Zika outbreak in the city. The containment and surveillance activities will be discussed with the officials.
“As part of PMC’s response to sequestering its population from the new threat, NIV scientists will train us for testing, clinical symptoms, case definitions, and sample collection amongst others,” said the PMC officials.
Dr Rajesh Dighe, assistant health officer of PMC, said that during the training, NIV experts and state officials will issue guidelines to civic officials.
“The guidelines will be followed for our ongoing containment and surveillance activities carried out after the Zika virus cases were reported. We have examined over 9,000 people living in Erandwane and Mundhwa after cases were reported from this area,” he said.
