KARACHI: The administration of District Central (Karachi Central District) has launched initiatives to curb the spread of dengue and chikungunya in the city.
Addressing media on Friday, District Central Chairman Rehan Hashmi said the campaign had been launched to prevent diseases like dengue and chikingunya from spreading, adding that the initiatives were taken in collaboration with the Karachi University Department of Zoology.
Karachi University Department of Zoology Assistant Professor Dr Tariq Rajput said that mosquitoes carrying dengue and chikungunya viruses bred in clean and stagnant water. He added that the campaign had been divided into three phases. Elaborating on these phases, Dr Rajput informed media that the first phase involved the identification of areas that were breeding grounds for larva and mosquitoes. He added that the second phase involved the elimination of larva and mosquitoes by using guppy fish, while the third phase would include commercial production of guppy fish. Dr Rajput further said that until now, 15 areas where biological activities related to the said viruses take place have been identified.
The District Central chairman said that currently in the city, there was a very low number of dengue cases and not a single case of chikungunya virus. He said that there was no cooperation with the Sindh government’s Dengue Control Programme in this regard.
