Hong Kong to look at mosquito-eat-mosquito strategy to tackle chikungunya fever

Hong Kong authorities will explore the use of a mosquito-eat-mosquito strategy deployed by the mainland Chinese city at the epicentre of a recent outbreak of chikungunya fever to control the disease’s spread, with one more imported case recorded on Tuesday.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told lawmakers at a special meeting on Tuesday that the government planned to test biological control strategies to curb the spread of the chikungunya virus in Hong Kong, which had recorded six imported cases since August 2.

But he acknowledged that the government would have difficulty deploying these tech-driven methods immediately because they required time to develop.

The latest case was recorded on Tuesday, involving a 31-year-old man who had stayed in Foshan, the Guangdong province city hit by an outbreak, between August 1 and 3.

He returned to Hong Kong and developed a fever, rashes and joint pain on August 8.

The next day, he visited Shenzhen and sought medical help there on August 10 but was not hospitalised.