DNCC adds mist blowers, vehicle-mounted foggers to its anti-mosquito arsenal

Dhaka North City Corporation has deployed 20 mist blowers and two vehicle-mounted fogging machines expanding its anti-mosquito arsenal as the dengue menace continues.

The machines were brought in to make its mosquito-repelling efforts more dynamic and effective following recommendations by entomologists, the DNCC said in a statement on Tuesday.

Each of 10 DNCC zones now has two mist blowers. The process to purchase three more vehicle-mounted fogging machines was under way, the statement said.

The mist blowers will be helpful in killing mosquito eggs and larvae as it is useful in spraying larvicides up to 40 metres inside covered drains, according to the statement. Moreover, only one worker can operate a mist blower.

The vehicle-mounted fogging machines are useful in killing adult mosquitoes from a long distance by spraying adulticides. The DNCC has mounted the machines on pickup trucks.

The number of dengue patients who received treatment in hospitals so far this year crossed 100,000 on Friday after shattering all records months ago. As many as 451 patients were still being treated at hospitals.

The government confirmed reports of 129 deaths from dengue this year until Friday.

Doctor Borhan Uddin, an official at the Directorate General of Health Services, said the risk of dengue is getting lower than it was in July-August period as the dry season has arrived.

But he urged the public to continue with precautions such as using mosquito nets while sleeping.

The High Court on July 4 issued a rule on its own volition, ordering immediate steps to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which bear and transmit the dengue virus, after the outbreak started in Dhaka.

The court issued instructions during hearings later, including on importing mosquito repellents as an icddr, b study revealed the mosquito-killing agents used by the city authorities were no more effective.

The court last month ordered a judicial investigation into the causes that led to the authorities’ failure to control the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases dengue and chikungunya fevers.