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The Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Mr Eddy Chan, said today (September 28) that the department had referred the case relating to suspected tampering of ovitraps to the Police for investigation.
"We have completed the examination of the some 2,000 ovitraps placed in September. Initial findings revealed that some ovitraps were tampered with," Mr Chan said.
"After carefully considering the information collated, we regard the issue as very serious, and had referred it to the Police. We would cooperate fully with the Police in the investigation."
Mr Chan said the FEHD had taken measures immediately upon receiving the complaint. These included reminding FEHD and contractor staff not to tamper with the ovitraps, arranging a special training course on mosquito control for departmental staff, and re-examining the situation in the districts, especially locations registering a plunge in the ovitrap index or zero readings recently.
He also said, as an enhancement measure, the FEHD would deploy headquarters staff shortly to inspect and monitor whether the ovitraps were tampered with. The department would also study how to improve the design of ovitraps to help identify those that were tampered with, and replace them if needed. As a precautionary measure, the FEHD would step up anti-mosquito work at the affected locations.
Mr Chan said the department attached importance to monitoring the prevalence of Aedes albopictus, and had been taking proactive measures on mosquito control work.
"In the past few years, the department had deployed considerable manpower resources for anti-mosquito work. The number of mosquito-related complaints had decreased from some 9,500 cases during the period from January to August in 2003 to some 7,200 in the same period this year, indicating a progressively decreasing trend," he said.
"Hong Kong has not recorded any local case of dengue fever since such a case was reported in 2003. This reflects, to a certain extent, the achievement of the anti-mosquito work carried out by our district frontline staff."
"We have also reviewed the ovitrap indices for the past three years and found no ground to suspect the effectiveness of our anti-mosquito work," he said.
"It is totally unacceptable for FEHD staff to tamper with or instruct other people to tamper with the ovitraps. The department would take stringent disciplinary action against colleagues who engaged in this malpractice," he stressed.
Mr Chan added that people who had evidence of tampered-with ovitraps involving FEHD staff were welcomed to contact the FEHD headquarters (Tel: 2867 5775) or the Police for follow-up action.
Ends/Thursday, September 28, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:05
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