With hospitals already severely stretched, coronavirus-hit India is now bracing for the monsoon and its deadly annual onslaught of mosquito-borne illnesses, with an overwhelmed army of public health workers the only defence.
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Every year illnesses such as dengue fever and malaria infect more than half a million people and kill hundreds in India as the monsoon brings much-needed rain but also devastation and disease. | A civic authority worker (L) fumigates a slum area to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes in Mumbai.
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A months-long lockdown to prevent the epidemic from spreading left Mumbai with an acute shortage of sanitation workers. | A civic authority worker fumigates a slum area.
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Thousands of public health workers who fumigate neighbourhoods to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes had to delay those crucial efforts for two months to focus on sanitation instead. | Children are covered in smoke as a civic authority worker (R) fumigates a slum area.
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"Many of our men are doing double shifts, working 14 hours straight," said Rajan Naringrekar, the head of the city's insecticide department. | A civic authority worker fumigates a slum area.
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With nearly 60,000 infections, Mumbai accounts for around a fifth of India's coronavirus cases.
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As teams fumigated a slum and cleared out stagnant water - a potent breeding ground for mosquitoes - from sagging tarpaulin roofs, storage bins and bottles, Naringrekar told AFP many of them were afraid of contracting the virus.
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The risks will increase exponentially with the rains, with workers required to inspect homes and offices in case of a dengue outbreak.
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People react to the smoke as civic authority workers fumigate a slum area to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes in Mumbai ahead of the monsoon season.
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A civic authority worker (L) fumigates a slum area to kill disease-carrying mosquitoes in Mumbai.
Image Credit: AFP
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A BMC worker carries out fumigation work as part of the preventive measures against malaria ahead of Monsoon season, at Mazgaon in Mumbai.
Image Credit: PTI
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