Press Releases

Prompt actions taken to guard against mosquito breeding

        The Government attaches great importance and high priority to the need for a coordinated approach in anti-mosquito efforts to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in the upcoming wet season, a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said today (June 17).

        In view of the recent upsurge of ovitrap indices, the spokesman said the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, had written to the heads of all relevant departments urging them to step up their anti-mosquito efforts as a matter of priority.

        The Anti-mosquito Steering Committee (AMSC) chaired by the Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mrs Carrie Yau, would convene meeting on June 21 to review the situation and consider additional preventive measures, the spokesman said.

        Over the next few days, various departments will mount special anti-mosquito operations. These include:

*Lands Department will ask their contractors to inspect all 600 pieces of government land with overgrown grass, focusing in particular on the high-risk areas;

*With the support of the Islands District Council and the local community, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will mount in collaboration with other relevant departments a series of large-scale operations in Mui Wo tomorrow (June18);

*The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will carry out anti-mosquito operations in Ma On Shan Park on Saturday (June 19);

*In response to public concerns about the environmental condition of railway construction sites, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation has instructed their contractors to step up inspections to their work sites from once a week to once every other day. The frequency of spraying pesticides will be increased from once every six weeks to once a month.

        "To minimise the threat of dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases, we need to take preventive measures promptly against the breeding of mosquitoes.

        "Control measures taken by departments aside, we call on the public to participate actively in anti-mosquito activities by eliminating potential mosquito breeding grounds in their premises and the neighbourhood. Community involvement is essential in tackling the mosquito problem," the spokesman said.

        The spokesman noted the AMSC had endorsed in May a three-pronged approach to combat the mosquito problem.

        Under the enhanced prevention and enforcement programme, the campaign this year will focus on enhanced preventive measures, strict enforcement actions and stepped-up publicity programmes.

        For enhanced preventive measures, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department would activate a district inter-departmental anti-mosquito response mechanism once the Area Ovitrap Index (AOI) reaches 20 per cent instead of 30 per cent as in the past.

        On publicity, two new Announcements in the Public Interest would be produced to heighten public awareness of the potential risk of dengue fever.

        Besides, a Port Ovitrap Index has been introduced this year to indicate the situation of mosquito-breeding in port areas.

        "In anticipation of the forthcoming wet season, district task forces can be activated at short notice to coordinate inter-departmental anti-mosquito efforts in response to a given situation.

        "All relevant departments have been conducting intensive on-the-spot inspections to the concerned districts followed by elimination of breeding sources and application of larvicides to potential breeding grounds that are non-removable.

        "As a result, the AOIs of Aberdeen, Kwun Tong Central and Tseung Kwan O which recorded AOIs exceeding 40 per cent in April have decreased significantly last month," the spokesman said.

Ends/Thursday, June 17, 2004

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