Municipal water tanker providing clean drinking water to residents in the ground-zero infection zone of Bhagirathpura.
A man drinks directly from a municipal water tanker dispatched to Bhagirathpura after contaminated local supply led to six deaths and hundreds of infections.File Photo: The Hindu
National

Indore water contamination: 20 new diarrhoea cases detected during screening; 142 in hospitals

NIRBI experts join the investigation as health teams screen over 9,000 residents in ground-zero Bhagirathpura.
Published on: 

According to officials, 398 patients had been admitted to hospitals so far following the outbreak

As many as 142 people are currently hospitalised amid an outbreak of diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water in Indore, including 11 in ICUs, even as 20 new patients were detected during screening of over 9,000 people in Bhagirathpura area, the ground zero of infection.

Health teams examined 9,416 individuals from 2,354 households during an ongoing survey in Bhagirathpura, where six persons have lost their lives due to contaminated water, and identified 20 fresh cases, officials said on Sunday (January 4, 2026).

A middle-aged man stands in a kitchen holding up a transparent plastic bottle filled with yellowish, turbid water. In the background, a woman is seen working at a counter, highlighting the impact of water contamination on daily household life in Indore.
A resident of Bhagirathpura, Indore, displays a bottle of murky drinking water, which has been identified as the source of a diarrhoea outbreak that has hospitalised 142 people.File Photo: Deccan Herald

According to officials, 398 patients had been admitted to hospitals so far following the outbreak. Of them, 256 patients have been discharged after recovery. They stated that 142 patients are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals, including 11 admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr. Madhav Prasad Haasani said a team from the Kolkata-based National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (NIRBI) has arrived in Indore to probe the health crisis.

MADHYA PRADESH
Water Contamination
Indore
Diarrhoea Outbreak
Bhagirathpura
NIRBI
Public Health
ICMR
Dr. Madhav Prasad Haasani
Water Today | Magazine
magazine.watertoday.org