Clean homes, surroundings every Saturday to stop dengue spread: DNCC mayor

Md Atiqul Islam, mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), has urged city dwellers to clean their homes and surroundings every Saturday to stop Aedes mosquito breeding grounds from being created.

"Let us clean our homes and surroundings every Saturday at 10am for 10 minutes," said the mayor, who launched the campaign from his rooftop today, our correspondent reports.

"Please make it a social movement," said the mayor, "because controlling Aedes mosquitoes is crucial."

The mayor, while speaking at a virtual live program from his Uttara house, said that city corporation workers will not come to clean rooftops and that it is everyone's individual responsibility to clean their own homes and rooftops.

"I've come to my Uttara house to see if there's any water collected in the rooftop garden after yesterday's rain. Rain and then sunshine are ideal conditions for Aedes mosquitos, so we must clean up the stagnant water as soon as possible," he explained.

"If we have roof top gardens, we must be careful not to allow stagnant water to become mosquito breeding grounds," the mayor said.

The mayor also showed where Aedes mosquito larvae can breed including corners, garage, and yard.

The mayor urged members of various clubs, societies, social organizations, school teachers, and mosque imams to come forward and encourage everyone to wear masks and clean their own homes and yards.

He also urged them to visit the construction sites on a regular basis to check for stagnant water.

He stated that there are 46 health service centres where city dwellers can get free dengue virus testing.