Business owners and residents of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation (TPRC) have been urged to clean their property and get rid of items which could prove to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Otherwise, they will face the consequences. The warning has been issued in the light of increasing numbers of people infected with the chikungunya virus in the country.
According to the corporation’s chairman, Edwin Gooding, 25 cases have so far been confirmed in the Tunapuna/Piarco region. Corporation officials are concerned about this figure increasing and have chosen to act before the epidemic worsens.
Advising burgesses about the measures they have introduced to stem the spread of the virus, Gooding said officials were currently cutting and clearing vacant lots, cleaning drains, removing white-waste items, disposing of garbage and tyres, and carrying out spraying and fogging operations throughout the region.
During a press conference at the corporation's office in Tunapuna yesterday, Gooding said efforts began at the end of July to combat dengue fever through the general eradication of mosquitoes, but operations were ramped up after the chikungunya virus began spreading. Gooding pointed a finger at negligent property and lot owners who had refused to “live up” to the responsibility of cleaning and clearing vacant lots.
He said it had cost the TPRC approximately $77,000 within a two-month period to employ open-tray trucks to remove discarded white-waste items such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, computers and discarded tyres; whilst the cost of employing the labour had run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of the 1,200 vacant lots littered throughout the region, 650 lots have already been cut and cleared.
The majority of these abandoned and empty lots are located in Wallerfiled, Santa Rosa and Carapo. However, corporation officials are appealing to owners to accept responsibility and ensure the lots remain clean. Since the spraying machine belonging to the Ministry of Health was inoperable, Gooding said, the corporation had acquired several hand-held spraying machines which would be used in the interim.
Officials are also considering the distribution of bed nets and mosquito repellant creams to residents—in a move similar to that employed by the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, which several weeks ago distributed these items to the elderly and families with babies. Asked what was proving to be the most challenging aspect of getting burgesses to cooperate with officials, Gooding replied, “How they keep their physical surroundings.”
Adding that spraying was only one element in the fight against the spread of the virus, Gooding said it was mainly about ensuring homes and surrounding premises were cleaned. Vice-chairman and Chairman of the Health Committee Esmond Forde said a public education programme had been introduced in the areas where work had already been done, to educate residents on the virus, how it was spread and what they could do to assist in the fight.
Corporation officials will also be visiting primary schools next week to speak with Standard Four and Five pupils.