By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 30, 2016 : The death toll due to Japanese Encephalitis went up to 80 in Odisha’s most backward Malkangiri district on Sunday with the death of two more children.

Both the children succumbed due to the vector-borne disease. Two children had died of the deadly disease on Saturday. While one died at the district headquarters hospital, another succumbed due to the disease at Kalimela hospital.

Seventeen kids were admitted in the district headquarter hospital, Malkangiri on Saturday. While two were taken to the ICU, others are undergoing treatment in the JE (Japanese Encephalitis) ward of the hospital, officials said.

Meanwhile, thousands of people took out a candle rally on Saturday evening in Malkangiri town to mourn the death of the children.

A central team that visited Malkangiri district to take stock of the situation has said that the prevalence rate of the virus is steadily coming down. Joint director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) Dr Kalpana Baruah, who led the six-member team, while talking to the media in Bhubaneswar, said that the disease has been brought under control, and now there are only sporadic cases of the disease.

The central team had visited badly affected villagers living in Malkangiri district. Baruah said the state government; the district administrations in Malkangiri and Koraput have taken every possible step to curb the outbreak of the vector borne disease.