Amid a surge in dengue cases in the city, Karnataka Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao Friday launched a disease surveillance dashboard and a mobile application for effective monitoring and curbing of the vector-borne disease. The dashboard, a disease forecasting software, has been developed in partnership with the Department of Health, Bengaluru municipal corporation — Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) — and the AI and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK ) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to assist policymakers and public health officials in preparing for outbreaks and managing disease control activities. According to officials, the dashboard uses Artificial Intelligence to predict a surge in infections four weeks in advance. It provides a map of outbreaks across Karnataka at the district and sub-district levels along with case trends across years. A 4-week predictive risk map of outbreaks will also be made available to state and district officers. In addition to predictions, data from multiple sources is being standardised and streamlined for improved analysis. Both the dashboard and mobile app are focused on dengue, to begin with, and the aim is to expand to additional diseases in the future, the officials said. On Thursday, the health minister along with officials reviewed the measures taken by the BBMP in containing the spread of dengue. More than 3,200 dengue cases have been reported in Bengaluru in the past two months, said the minister who has directed the civic body to intensify their efforts to control the spread of the virus.
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