Mombasa, KENYA: Mombasa county governor Hassan Ali Joho on Monday launched a sh 15 million fogging program in a bid to fight Chikungunya outbreak in the county.
The program constitutes 5 vehicles fitted with modern fogging machines which will be used to spray all the 6 sub-counties starting with Changamwe and Mvita which are worst hit by the virus.
Speaking to the press during the launch, Joho said public health officials will target areas where the virus was reported such as Jomvu, Island and Changamwe.
“We have put measures in place to ensure we bring back order in terms of sanitation. We have procured enough equipment and chemicals to help us in this fight”, he said.
The 10-day exercise will be conducted during the day and aims at killing the adult mosquitoes (Aedes Aegypti) which are the carriers.
Joho said the insecticide being sprayed is not harmful to humans and is designed to kill mosquitoes and prevent them from breeding further.
“We kindly urge the residents to cooperate with our teams on the ground, especially in locating mosquito breeding zones.” Said Governor Joho.
Mombasa County government is working closely with a team from KEMRI who are going around the highly affected areas and studying the mosquitoes spreading the virus.
They are also taking blood samples to examine the virus further.
So far 40 cases of chikungunya virus have been reported in the county.
READ MORE: What you need to know about Chikungunya outbreak in Mombasa
