Port-of-Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee visited Belmont as part of a public health campaign to stop the spread of dengue and chikungunya.
Accompanied by the councilor for the Belmont area, a city health inspector and other members of the City Corporation, Tim Kee visited vacant private lots in the area yesterday to check in on ongoing efforts to eradicate the breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can spread dengue fever and the chikungunya virus.
The City Corporation plans to clean some 178 private vacant lots in eastern Port-of-Spain and well as the other 458 lots in the entire city. Owners will be billed for the work done.
Area councillor Farai Hove Masaisai said owners of these private vacant lots had been sent warning letters to clean up their vacant lots but this was not being done.
He pointed to derelict vehicles, uncut grass and garbage as the breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that cause the virus. He said this was the second phase of the eradication exercise that started with the spraying of the area.
Mitra Sooklal, a Port-of-Spain City Corporation health inspector, said this was part of the ongoing campaign of the Insect Vector Control Department that started in mid-August and involved not only "chemical control" but also public announcements and education.
34 cases of chikungunya have been confirmed in the Diego Martin area, and 6 in Belmont.
