Mayor Annisul Huq at Friday's media briefing by the Dhaka North City Corporation. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Mayor Annisul Huq at Friday's media briefing by the Dhaka North City Corporation. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Dhaka North City Corporation workers took out a procession as part of an awareness raising campaign on dengue and chikungunya prevention in the capital's Gulshan on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Dhaka North City Corporation workers took out a procession as part of an awareness raising campaign on dengue and chikungunya prevention in the capital's Gulshan on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Dhaka North cleaning staff take part in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya prevention on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Dhaka North cleaning staff take part in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya prevention on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Dhaka North City Corporation cleaning staff and students from local schools participate in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya in the capital's Gulshan on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Dhaka North City Corporation cleaning staff and students from local schools participate in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya in the capital's Gulshan on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Insecticide is sprayed during a procession on dengue and chikungunya prevention in Dhaka’s Gulshan-2 on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Insecticide is sprayed during a procession on dengue and chikungunya prevention in Dhaka’s Gulshan-2 on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Dhaka North cleaning staff take part in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya prevention on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Dhaka North cleaning staff take part in a procession to raise awareness on dengue and chikungunya prevention on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Insecticide is sprayed during a procession on dengue and chikungunya prevention in Dhaka’s Gulshan-2 on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik Insecticide is sprayed during a procession on dengue and chikungunya prevention in Dhaka’s Gulshan-2 on Saturday. Photo: asaduzzaman pramanik
Chikungunya spreads amid blame game
"My remarks, which were featured in media reports, may have hurt many. I want to say that I did not mean it like that. I apologise, if it hurt anyone," he told reporters on Saturday before launching an awareness campaign on mosquito-borne diseases.
After the health ministry held the Dhaka North and South city corporations responsible for the spread of chikungunya disease, Mayor Huq emerged before the media on Friday.
He claimed the viral disease was spreading fast because of mosquito populations inside households, rather than those growing out of the city's drainage system.
“…it is not possible for the City Corporation to hunt mosquitoes inside your homes.
“I can’t tie your mosquito nets, and I can't put insecticides in your water reservoirs. I can't kill the mosquitoes that breed on the surface of the clean water you store inside your homes," he had said.
Huq had said his office was killing more mosquitoes than usual. “I don’t know what more we can do.”
According to the ministry of health, residents living in 23 neighbourhoods of Dhaka face greater risks of contracting the disease.
The symptoms of dengue and chikungunya are almost similar, but joint pains are more severe in cases of chikungunya, doctors say.
Mosquito-borne viral disease, chikungunya was first described during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952.
The virus belongs to the alphavirus genus of the family Togaviridae. The name “chikungunya” derives from a word in the Kimakonde language, meaning “to become contorted”, and describes the stooped appearance of sufferers with joint pain.