News Ryan Hamilton-Davis 11 hours ago
In a press conference on September 13, the Ministry of Health identified Victoria, Caroni, St. George’s East and St. Patrick counties as the areas with the highest number of confirmed dengue cases and updated the public on efforts to curb the spread of the fever.
Of the four counties, Victoria County was identified as the area with 41% of confirmed cases, Caroni County had 14.4% of cases, St. George’s East County had 13.6% of cases and St. Patrick County had 12.3% of cases.
“There are cases in other counties and we encourage everyone to take the necessary precautions, but these are the areas where the majority of cases have been identified to date,” Dr. Avery Hinds said at the Ministry of Health’s offices in Queen’s Park East on Tuesday.
Those figures are out of a total of 1,387 confirmed cases so far this year, according to the ministry. Hinds said the number of cases this year was low at 17 in January but peaked at 652 in July. Last month, the ministry confirmed 424 cases.
Hines noted that there is a gap between the number of confirmed cases – the total number of cases per year – and the number of people currently recovering from dengue.
He said the Ministry of Health does not keep track of the number of infected people, but that the only people who are actually infected are those who have recently had the virus and have recovered.
“It’s important to remember that the disease itself is fairly self-limited,” he says. “It will generally resolve within a week or two.”
Deyalsingh: 994 maintenance notices issued
Health Minister Terence Deyalsingh said 994 notices had been issued and 43 legal actions had been filed to maintain gardens, and he renewed his appeal for people to maintain their homes, gardens and grounds.
“When public health inspectors visit an area, they find homes and yards that have mosquito breeding containers and they issue notices to people, telling them to clean up their yards.”
“We will investigate again within 7-14 days and will take legal action if there is no response.”
He said the best way to control mosquito populations is to focus on source reduction – removing containers that hold water, cleaning drains and flower pots and disposing of trash and tyres.
“There is help we are not receiving: tyres, flower pots, flowers. People love plants but human lives are more important than plant lives. People are not listening to the warnings. By taking these simple measures at home we can have a very positive impact on the number of infections and deaths.”
He said the spraying would kill adult mosquitoes, but would not affect them as they spend 75 percent of their lives in water, adding that it takes an average of 10 days for a mosquito to develop from a pupa to an adult. Newsday understands that spraying can only be done every three months.
“So you can’t spray every seven to 10 days to kill adult mosquitoes. It’s physically impossible and scientifically irresponsible,” he said. “Frequent spraying is bad for human health. It’s bad for the health of other insects, wildlife, birds, bees, pets, it disrupts the ecosystem. It’s dangerous to human health. And mosquitoes will develop a resistance to the spraying.”
Kouba/Tabakité: IVCD needs funding
Couva/Tabaquite councillor Ryan Rampersad said he was not surprised by the high number of dengue cases in Victoria County but expressed concern about the capacity of the Insect Vector Control Department (IVCD), claiming it was not adequately resourced.
He said the company has done all it can to help IVCD in its efforts to control mosquito populations, but it faces challenges of its own.
“IVCD told us in July that they were overwhelmed with cases and were not always able to respond in a timely manner,” he said. “They only have one ULV machine (a truck-mounted machine that sprays areas) and it broke down. They have to borrow from other counties. We’re saying the health minister should ensure that the responsible agencies have adequate resources.”
He said company workers in the county are working with the IVCD and that IVCD-trained company workers are engaged in residual spraying.
“We’ve sprayed in Welcome Village, Dow Village, California, Todds Road and elsewhere,” he said. “Officers at the Savonetta Fire Department said they haven’t been noticed. We sprayed their property today. This is an ongoing effort. When requests come in and we’re available, we will.”
He said the company has procured thermal foggers costing between $10,000 and $15,000 and plans to get another one later this month. The company also conducted training on the orders of the Minister of Local Government to send CEPEP personnel to clean up unkempt land and sites during the July and August holidays.
He said the move had a significant impact on the company’s day-to-day operations as it was suffering from severe staff shortages.
“We are short about 400 staff. This is due to a personnel audit about four years ago. We have been taken off the job due to staff shortages. We have cemeteries, recreation grounds, roads and drains that need cleaning. By taking staff off the job for six weeks, the impact has been felt and the recreation ground and cemetery have been left in a state of neglect.”
He said his constituency was one of the largest, covering parts of Victoria County and two-thirds of Caroni County.
“When you look at the amount of land that’s been abandoned and things like that, it’s not possible for us to regularly clear these people’s land.”
