* Text Courtesy IANS

*Images courtesy: © Thinkstock photos/ Getty Images

(IANS) As many as 209 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported so far in West Bengal, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharjee said here Friday.

"Today (Friday) we had held review meeting about the status of dengue in the state. Right now there are 209 confirmed cases of dengue in the state," Bhattacharjee told IANS.

When the endemic first came to the fore in the second week of August, the number of confirmed cases was 80.

On Thursday, a senior health official told IANS that there were 109 confirmed cases of dengue in the state and the figure will increase after all the data is submitted at the review meeting Friday.

For the last few days, many people in and around Kolkata have been admitted to hospitals with symptoms similar to dengue.

The state government has decided to launch an intense awareness campaign throughout the disease-prone areas, and also to train 142 medical officers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to tackle the menace.

As a part of awareness campaign, the dengue-prone areas have been divided into two categories and the fund for launching intense awareness camping is being given accordingly.

Kolkata is under category A, whereas areas of Howrah, Siliguri and Asansol are under category B, going by the intensiveness of the disease in the area.