Dhaka, July 25 (UNB)- Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) on Thursday informed the High Court that they will launch a three-day crash programme against mosquitoes to tackle the dengue menace.
Two lawyers of DSCC and DNCC, Barrister Taufiq Inam Tipu and Advocate Sayeed Ahmed Raja informed the matter before a bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Suhrawardy.
The court fixed July 30 for next hearing on the matter and sought details on the steps taken by the authorities to prevent the mosquito menace.
The HC directed the two chief health officers to bring effective medicine for destroying the breeding grounds of Aedes mosquito within a week.
The HC sought an explanation by 2pm today on whether the medicine would be brought.
In the afternoon the two lawyers said it would take one month to bring new medicines, adding that “During that time we will run crash programmes. Earlier we use to spray mosquito medicine twice a day but from now on it will be sprayed four to six times a day.”
The court asked what good it would do to increase spraying of ineffective medicine. City corporation lawyers said it might work even though mosquitoes have seemingly developed resistance to the old spray.
“Primarily, give us three to seven days”, the lawyers said.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease that has rapidly spread in all regions of WHO in recent years. Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus. This mosquito also transmits chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infection.
It infected more than 8,500 people since the beginning of this year and claimed eight lives so far, according to official figures.
