HÀ NỘI – Hà Nội has been taking efforts to stamp out the dengue fever outbreak which has plagued the city in recent months, with nearly 15,400 cases reported in 12 districts so far this year.

By Tuesday, 18 large-scale mosquito spraying machines had been handed over to the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre. Three other machines are being repaired and will be brought to the city.

From now until the end of this month, Hà Nội plans to conduct a large-scale mosquito spraying campaign, focusing on crowded areas such as markets, schools, construction sites, abandoned land and houses. Residents will be informed before the spraying occurs.

In areas where cars and trucks can approach, large spraying machines will be used at night while small sprayers will be used at households during daytime. Hà Nội has been supplied with more 30 small spraying machines and 300 litres of chemicals to conduct the campaign.

Addressing an incident where many students at Quang Trung Secondary School in Đống Đa District suffered allergic reactions and painful eyes after the school sprayed mosquito-killing chemicals, the city’s Preventive Healthcare Centre Nguyễn Nhật Cảm said the reaction could happen to people with allergic conditions, including children. However, it would cause no harm to their health.

Cảm affirmed the chemical is licensed by the Ministry of Healthy. Therefore, parents should not be worried.

Seven people have so far died dengue fever this year, compared to only one or two in previous years.

The outbreak has struck 12 districts, including Đống Đa, Hoàng Mai, Hai Bà Trưng, Thanh Xuân, Hà Đông, Cầu Giấy, Thanh Trì, Ba Đình, Nam Từ Liêm, Thanh Oai, Bắc Từ Liêm and Hoài Đức.

People’s involvement

A representative from HCM City’s Center for Preventive Medicine said that in the last seven weeks, dengue fever has shown signs of slowing down. In addition to measures from city leaders, many localities have developed innovative and effective ways to fight the disease.

From the beginning of 2017, District 8 recorded 542 cases of dengue fever, increasing 5 per cent over the same period in 2016. However this increase is much lower compared to the general increase of 27 per cent of the city.

Nguyễn Thị Hồng Biên - Deputy Director of District 8 Health Center said that to achieve this result, district leaders and people worked hard. The head of the district People’s Committee regularly leads a team to survey each risk point, devises plans and assigns the wards to handle these risk points, she said.

To date, of a total 66 high risk areas in District 8, 59 have been resolved.

For example, Bà Rô canal, which is located in Ward 16, one of the district’s worst spots for environmental and disease outbreaks including dengue fever, is encroached by people who built houses on the canal. The District 8 Health Center has proposed for a canal cleaning project to be implemented and no dengue fever has been reported from this area since early this year.

Plan to release dengue-blocking mosquito with bacteria postponed

The People’s Committee in central Khánh Hòa Province has decided not to release mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria in the inner city to check dengue fever, provincial authorities have said.`

Provincial chairman Lê Đức Vinh said on Monday the mosquitoes will be released in Vĩnh Lương Commune instead of four wards of the province’s Nha Trang City.

As planned, the mosquitoes are expected to be released in Vĩnh Phước, Vĩnh Thọ, Vĩnh Trường and Phước Long wards.

Chairman Vinh said the province would review the project to release mosquitoes in the inner city because many issues needed to be studied.

Many feel that with the large population and the difference in the environment of a city and island, the release should be reviewed.

The release of mosquitoes with Wolbachia has been implemented on a trial basis on the city’s Trí Nguyên Island and has proven effective, with no dengue fever outbreak reported on the island.

Moreover, release in the city would affect tourism activities, Vinh said.

The trial release in Vĩnh Lương Commune is expected to begin once the peak of the monsoon is over for this year, local media reported on Tuesday.

However, the release would be delayed, Bùi Xuân Minh, director of the Health Department, said.

In the future, the department will meet with Vĩnh Lương Commune’s representatives to get the opinion of the community and to submit the plan of changing the release area to the Ministry of Health for approval, Minh said. — VNS