Panic struck Odisha’s capital city following the death of Union cabinet minister Jual Oram’s wife Jhingia Oram (58) of dengue.

She passed away on Saturday night while undergoing treatment at a city hospital. Her blood platelet count did not improve.

Following the death, the Odisha government and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation joined hands and intensified cleaning operations, including fogging. However, the ongoing rain has hampered these operations.

The number of dengue cases in Odisha has surpassed 2,000. The highest number of dengue cases have been reported from Khurda district (537), under whose jurisdiction Bhubaneswar falls. The number of dengue cases has touched 406 in Bhubaneswar alone.

Director of public health Nilakantha Mishra told The Telegraph: “It’s unfortunate that Union minister Oram’s wife died from dengue. The minister was also down with fever. Last year too, dengue was reported from Oram’s residence. Following the dengue outbreak in his locality in Bhubaneswar, our team rushed to the spot and, along with BMC officials, started survey and cleaning work.”

Mishra said: “As it has been raining for the last few days, the drive against dengue has become tougher. Even if we put chemical oil in the water to destroy the larva, it has been ineffective. Similarly, fogging will not be effective.”

Citing the reason for the number of cases going up in Bhubaneswar, Mishra said: “The density of population in many areas is quite high. So it’s natural that dengue would be easily transmitted from the affected persons to healthy persons. Everyone needs to use mosquito nets now.”

Bhubaneswar mayor Sulochana Das said: “The situation compared to last year is good. Most of the people diagnosed with dengue in other parts are coming to Bhubaneswar for treatment, that’s why the caseload of dengue has gone up.”

Das said: “This year, we have almost completed the cleaning of all major drains, the conservation lanes behind the residential quarters where people dumped all the garbage, and the places where mosquitoes breed. But people need to destroy the breeding centres in their premises.”

She said: “We have urged people to observe Thursday and Sunday as dry days. On these two days, they must clean their premises and ensure that all water stored in flower pots, tyres and other places is cleaned. It takes seven days for eggs to become larvae, so we have to ensure that eggs do not become larvae.