Himachal Pradesh: Diarrhoea spreads to 12 villages of Hamirpur, over 200 affected

Hamirpur: Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur is experiencing a resurgence of diarrhoea with over 200 people in 12 villages of the district falling ill in less than a week, officials said on Monday.

A similar outbreak that affected more than 400 people in the district was reported in March. It took the administration around 10 days to bring it under control.

The state's health department has sent its team to the affected villages falling under the Lambloo, Chamned, Gasota, Bafrin and Pandher gram panchayats, they said.

Forty-four new cases of diarrhoea, a water-borne disease, were reported on Monday out of which four have been admitted to hospital while over 160 people are at home, Chief Medical Officer, Hamirpur Dr R K Agnihotri said.

The first case was reported on Friday and the numbers have been rising since, officials said, adding that Lambloo and Chamned panchayats had 120 patients.

The CMO visited the affected areas and asked people to drink only boiled water and not consume stale food and overripe fruits.

"The situation is completely under control and all the facilities are being made available to the people at their doorsteps by the health department," he said.

The department and Jal Shakti Vibhag have taken water samples from the affected areas.

In January 2023, about 1,000 people contracted diarrhoea in the Rangas area of Nadaun, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. It returned in June, affecting 10 panchayats adjoining Hamirpur town.