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The Inter-departmental Co-ordinating Committee on Dengue Fever (ICC) has been geared up to fight against mosquitoes with a view to stamping out the spread of dengue fever in Hong Kong, chairman of ICC, Dr Tse Lai-yin said today (September 30).
"In fact the Government attached great importance to dengue fever and set up the ICC in 2001 in order to enhance co-operation among Government departments in the prevention and control of such disease following a cluster of cases reported in Macao last year.ˇ¨
Roles of various departments in the anti-mosquito campaign have been ascertained at the first meeting held on August 30 last year.
Dr Tse said all departments strived to prevent mosquito breeding. However, she added, community participation is essential to the success of the prevention strategy.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has undertook control measures around the patients' residence, workplace and other places. Inspections were made to all construction sites in the territory.
FEHD has conducted a community-wide anti-mosquito campaign, with the slogan "Let's remove stagnant water. Eliminate mosquitoes for healthy living".
The first phase was launched between April 2 and 27, 2002.
In view of the high Ovitrap Index recorded in April this year, the launch date of the second phase of the Anti-mosquito Campaign 2002 was advanced from July 15 to May 28, and the campaign period was extended from four weeks to six weeks.
The third phase started from September 23 and operations are on-going.
The FEHD will track Ovitrap Indices in parallel with the campaign to monitor the change in the territory-wide situation of mosquitoes. Members of the public are encouraged to participate actively in controlling mosquito breeding.
Special attention will be given to areas favouring the harbourage of mosquitoes or in close proximity to human residence, including waterfront public and private cargo working areas, piers and ferry terminals, construction sites, housing estates and schools.
Publicity materials like posters, pamphlets and videos as well as letters to target groups such as management of construction sites and housing estates have been distributed to disseminate the anti-mosquito message.
Roving exhibitions at major shopping malls of housing estates, outreaching health talks for schools, construction site management and workers are being conducted to drive home the message.
The Housing Department has instructed frontline staff, managers of construction projects and cleansing contractors to step up preventive measures. Special cleansing squads have been deployed to intensify patrols and cleansing at estate level. Tenants were advised to eliminate indoor breeding places.
Special articles will be posted in upcoming issues of Estate Management Advisory Committee Newsletters to disseminate relevant messages.
A Departmental Working Group on dengue Fever was set up by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to monitor implementation of control measures. Frequency of inspections to venues including beaches, gardens and recreation and sports centres has been increased. Publicity materials are displayed and distributed through venues. Anti-mosquito messages were disseminated through events such as tree-planting days and horticultural courses.
The Highways Department has immediately inspected its roadwork sites, cut roadside overgrown grass and step up inspection to roads, slopes, structures and depot maintained by the Department.
In addition to making available leaflets at District Offices, the Home Affairs Department further distributes leaflets by the Clean Hong Kong Ambassadors and Community Organizers to the public on the streets and to kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in some districts in the past week.
Leaflets are also distributed through Labour Departmentˇ¦s field offices to construction sites during field visits by labour officers.
The Education Department has sent letters to all primary and secondary schools and kindergartens reminding them of the importance of preventive measures and arranged a series of talks on dengue fever for them this week.
The Social Welfare Department has sent information sheets to all welfare services units run by the Department such as child care centres, residential homes for the elderly and drug treatment centres and Non-government Organizations. Inspectors of the Licensing Office will further advise operators to take necessary measures to prevent dengue fever during inspections to the centres/homes.
The Hospital Authority issued a fact sheet to all its hospitals, organized forums for hospital staff and staged exhibitions for the public. All HA hospital managements are reminded to enhance anti-mosquito control measures within hospital compound.
The Lands Department has conducted inspection to vacant Government land sites to identify mosquito breeding places for clearance. Major joint operations were conducted with FEHD in the past few days to clear the identified breeding places in Ma Wan and other parts of the territory. Posters are put up and pamphlets distributed to the public through its enquiry counters.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has stepped up measures in country parks, fish culture zones and markets.
The Marine Department has inspected the public cargo working areas to eliminate potential mosquito breeding places and distributed pamphlets to the operators and users in the public cargo working areas.
Surveillance of on-site cleanliness and control is carried out by the Architectural Services Department on Government construction sites.
The Information Services Department had stepped up broadcast of TV and radio Announcements in Public Interests (APIs) on mosquito prevention and control.
The Department of Health is closely monitoring the dengue fever situation in Hong Kong. Health education on prevention of dengue fever is actively promoted through Central Health Education Unit and the clinic network. The Port Health Service inspected island ferries and promoted travel health.
As at 3 pm today (September 30), the Department of Health's (DH) hotline 2961 8966 received a total of 913 enquiries on dengue fever.
Most of the calls were general enquiries. 60 callers, being 52 male and eight female aged between 19 and 59, worked or lived in Ma Wan. Among them, 19 callers, 17 male and two female aged 20 to 59, were referred to DH's regional offices for blood tests as they developed symptoms of fever earlier. Five other callers (two male and three female aged 29 to 40) who had visited Ma Wan earlier and subsequently found to have fever were also referred to regional offices for blood tests. A 30-year-old man who worked near the fish market in Cheung Sha Wan also called the hotline for enquiry.
The hotline is manned by healthcare professionals from 9 am to 5 pm daily.
End/Monday, September 30, 2002
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