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The Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, today (April 23) met with the Chairmen and Vice-chairmen of the 18 District Councils (DCs). Appealing for support from the DCs, Dr Ko called on them to vigorously perform their watchdog role and, acting in concert with the relevant government departments, help fortify anti-mosquito work at the district level to prevent dengue fever (DF).
Dr Ko said at the meeting that although only three local DF cases were recorded at the end of 2014, DF remained highly prevalent in neighbouring areas. He hoped the DCs could in the rainy season boost their efforts to promote active public participation in mosquito prevention and control work at the district level.
The Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Dr Leung Ting-hung, and the Pest Control Officer-in-charge of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Mr Yuen Ming-chi, also joined the meeting to brief participants on the latest development of DF and the Government's mosquito prevention and control work.
"The incubation period of DF ranges from three to 14 days, commonly four to seven days. Although symptoms of first DF infection are usually mild, if the person is infected with other serotypes of dengue viruses in subsequent years, it is more likely to result in a serious complication, namely dengue haemorrhagic fever. Failing proper treatment, the fatality rate could exceed 20 per cent.
"At present, no vaccine for DF is available. Therefore, the best preventive measures are to avoid mosquito bites and adopt measures to prevent mosquito breeding. Urgent actions at the district level are called for to put a territory-wide anti-mosquito campaign into full swing.
"DF remains highly prevalent in neighbouring areas that are frequently visited by Hong Kong residents, including Guangdong Province, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. From early this year to mid-April, 24 DF cases were recorded in Guangdong Province, 163 in Taiwan and more than 75 000 in Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In Hong Kong, 23 cases have been confirmed so far this year, and all are imported cases. With members of the public bitten by infected mosquitoes when travelling abroad or in Hong Kong, and under the scenario where we could not effectively contain the local mosquito problem, the likelihood of a DF outbreak in Hong Kong would go up significantly. If the experience with DF outbreaks in other places in the region is anything to go by, the number of DF cases could shoot up exponentially within a short period. For the sake of our safety and health, we have to work together to prevent DF from becoming endemic in Hong Kong. Once it has taken root, the trend will be irreversible," Dr Ko said.
Accepting the importance that should be attached to eliminate mosquito breeding, the DC Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen called for concerted actions on the part of relevant government departments in anti-mosquito work, as well as enhanced efforts to educate the public and promote public awareness.
"In gearing up for the upcoming rainy season, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will deploy additional manpower to anti-mosquito work as well as join hands with other relevant government departments to lay on, from May 4 to early June, two rounds of intensive mosquito preventive and control exercises across the territory covering areas under their purview. Through the two exercises, actions will be taken to kill adult mosquitoes, clear stagnant water and conduct grass cutting to eliminate potential mosquito breeding grounds. With each of the two rounds of intensive mosquito prevention and control exercise lasting for two weeks, we hope that mosquitoes of a whole generation, including those infected with DF, will be eliminated. We will also strengthen public education and publicity programmes to enhance public understanding of the disease and preventive measures as well as the importance of mosquito control work.
"In addition to its own staff, FEHD's contractors provide a total of more than 200 teams of workers to do mosquito control and preventive work all over Hong Kong. We have provided additional funding to the Department for sustaining its anti-mosquito work throughout the winter of 2014. We will allocate additional resources to the Department in 2015 for its work in this aspect.
"Construction sites are black spots of mosquito breeding. I am pleased that the Hong Kong Construction Association will lend its full support to our anti-mosquito operations. Apart from taking part in the two rounds of territory-wide intensive anti-mosquito exercises, members of the association will incorporate, in the training programme for safety officers and site workers, messages for enhancing awareness," Dr Ko said.
Also attending the meeting, the Permanent Secretary for Food and Health (Food), Mrs Cherry Tse, said, "The Anti-Mosquito Steering Committee, which comprises various bureaux and departments, held a meeting yesterday (April 22) to discuss ways to strengthen co-operation among different departments and adopt proactive measures to intensify anti-mosquito efforts across the territory.
"The added measures that would be pursued include the following: (a) the Education Bureau will appeal to school heads associations to participate in FEHD's seminars with a view to heightening their staff's alertness to prevent dengue fever; (b) as an established measure to contain mosquito breeding in construction sites, at present, the qualification of the contractors on the List of Approved Contractors for Public Works to bid public works will be affected if they repeatedly breach anti-mosquito regulations. The Development Bureau and the Housing Department will strengthen their communication with the contractors and review the relevant regulatory regime; and (c) FEHD will step up the surveillance of mosquito control and prevention work by its contractors," she said.
Ends/Thursday, April 23, 2015
Issued at HKT 20:03
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