Raipur, Jun 20 (PTI) The fourth phase of the 'Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan' that commenced from June 15 will continue till July 31, a Chhattisgarh government official said on Sunday.

Since June 15, as part of the initiative to make Bastar malaria-free, health teams have visited nearly 31,000 homes and tested over 1.28 lakh people for the disease, in the process detecting 1,066 cases, he said

Buoyed by the results of 'Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan' and 'Malaria Mukt Chhattisgarh Abhiyan' the drive is being expanded to 21 districts, with the aim of also tackling issues like mother-and-child mortality, he informed.

"Due to the initiative, malaria cases in Bastar division have fallen by 39 per cent in May this year when compared to the same month in 2020, with cases reducing from 2,298 to 1,404. Similarly, cases have reduced by 84 per cent in Kanker, 82 per cent in Kondagaon, 37 per cent in Bastar, 22 per cent in Dantewada, 21 per cent in Sukma, 9 per cent in Bijapur and by 2 per cent in Narayanpur. The annual parasite incidence (API) has also declined considerably from 26.78 in 2016 to 8.57 in 2020," the official said.

In December 2020 and January 2021, during the third phase of Malaria Mukt Bastar Abhiyan and in the first phase of Malaria Mukt Chhattisgarh Abhiyan, a total 15.60 lakh people in 2,309 villages of Bastar and Sarguja division were tested for malaria.

The campaign will now be expanded to four districts of Bilaspur division, namely Mungeli, Korba, Raigarh and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, three districts, namely Balod, Kabeerdham and Rajnandgaon in Durg division, and two districts of Raipur division, which are Dhamtari and Gariaband.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)