* Text Courtesy IANS

*Images courtesy: © Thinkstock photos/ Getty Images

(IANS) With 80 confirmed cases of dengue reported so far in West Bengal, the state government has decided to launch an intense awareness campaign throughout all the disease prone areas.

The government has also decided to train 142 medical officers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to tackle the menace, as most of the confirmed cases are reported in Kolkata.

"So far there are 80 patients who have been confirmed as suffering from dengue. We are keeping a close watch on the situation. But there is no need to panic," said Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya.

According to her, 64 of the patients are from Kolkata, 14 from North 24 Parganas district and two from other parts of the state.

Bhattacharya said that dengue-prone areas have been divided into two categories and fund for launching intense awareness camping is being given accordingly.

"The dengue-prone areas have been divided as category A and category B, going by the intensiveness of the disease in the area. Kolkata is under category A and areas of Howrah, Siliguri and Asansol are under category B," she said.

The area of Kolkata will be given Rs.16 lakh as part of the intense awareness campaign and areas of Siliguri, Howrah and Asansol will be given Rs.3 lakh each.

Bhattacharya said that 142 medical officers of KMC will be trained by the health department in collaboration with Calcutta School of Tropical Medical to tackle the menace in the metropolis.

She added that health department has decided to conduct free testing in all the medical colleges of the hospital and also open five testing laboratories in the KMC areas when blood samples will be tested free.