In the southern Chinese city of Foshan, officials are engaged in an all-out battle against chikungunya, a painful, mosquito-borne viral disease that could spread across the country.
Soldiers wearing masks are fogging parks and streets with insecticide. Drones have been deployed to identify mosquito breeding sites. Researchers have introduced giant “elephant mosquitoes,” whose larvae prey on the virus-carrying mosquitoes, and thousands of mosquito-eating fish have been released into city ponds.
A virus transmitted by the bites of infected mosquitoes, chikungunya is rarely fatal, but it does cause fever and severe joint pain. It has infected around 8,000 people in China in four weeks, mostly in Foshan, and is the country’s largest outbreak of its kind since the virus first emerged in the country in 2008. Experts say rising global temperatures have led to warmer and wetter weather there, allowing mosquitoes to thrive.
To fight the outbreak, the authorities are also drawing on a familiar playbook honed during the Covid pandemic — mobilizing the city of 10 million in a “patriotic public health campaign.” For some, that is evoking unhappy memories.
At building entrances in the city, workers spray residents with mosquito repellent before allowing them in. Community workers in red vests go door to door, inspecting homes and ordering residents to dump any stagnant water. Those who don’t cooperate could be fined or, in serious cases, face criminal charges for “obstructing the prevention of infectious diseases,” according to an illustrated government explainer.
At least five households have had their electricity cut for not cooperating, according to a notice issued by a neighborhood committee in the district of Guicheng.
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