Georgetown : In wake of comments made by Opposition members on the new vector borne disease, Chikungunya which has seen several confirmed cases in Region Six, Director of Vector Control Services (VCS) Dr. Reyaud Rahman tin a statement says the unit has been working on prevention methods throughout the country even before reports of the disease surfaced in the Caribbean.
Opposition members including Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), David Granger, said Chikungunya could have been avoided had it not been for the failure of the VCS in carrying out their duties with regards prevention.
Dr. Rahman said in 2013, VCS inspected thousands of homes in Georgetown and has been carrying out fogging and spraying activities in identified areas, noting that these activities were successful as all indentified areas were fogged and sprayed.
In addition to this, a few months ago the VCS commenced fogging in various communities in the Southern part of the city. He noted that the teams have been working according to protocol which would mean that if an exercise is carried out in an area one day, that area, will be revisited a short period after, for additional work. This is what the procedure entails and this is what the teams have been doing.
Dr. Rahman noted that 90% of vector control lies with the public. He said it is the residents’ responsibly to ensure their surroundings are clean and that containers that may retain water and breed vectors are properly disposed of. These include tins, old tyres, food boxes and any other similar items. VCS can only assist or complement the work of the residents by fogging and spraying however, if the individuals do not keep their surroundings clean then there will always be breeding room for vectors.
Further in response to the outbreak in Region Six, the VCS has been working endlessly to contain the disease. Numerous fogging, mist blowing and abatement activities were carried out across the East Berbice area.
Although there has not been any confirmed case in any other parts of the country as yet, intensive precautionary methods have been taken in Region Five to prevent the spread of the disease due to its closeness to Region Six.
VSC fogging activities continue across the city and monitoring of all ports of entry is ongoing to prevent the disease from spreading further as the country is preparing for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) games which is expected to attract a large number of tourists. The first three matches will be held at the Guyana National Stadium next month.
Thus far, there have been 15 confirmed cases of the disease, all reportedly from East Berbice
