The Health Bureau (SSM) announced at a press conference yesterday that it will set up 10 public information stations to promote mosquito prevention.
The presser was held at the bureau’s conference hall in a building adjacent to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHSCJ).
The main purpose of yesterday’s press conference was to introduce the prevention and control of mosquito-borne diseases.
Ieong Chon Kit, a doctor of the bureau’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), said in a speech during the press conference that due to the increasingly warmer weather and the arrival of the rainy season, the transmission of dengue fever and chikungunya fever has become more active in neighbouring regions, increasing the risk of these diseases reaching Macau.
Dr Ieong pointed out that community engagement is central to the prevention and control system. He underlined that the bureau has strengthened inspections of high-risk locations such as idle plots of land, schools and hotels, adding that it has also set up prevention and control teams to conduct regular inspections of construction sites, Ieong said.
According to Ieong, at present, larvicide oil is sprayed at least twice a month into more than 39,000 street drains across Macau. The frequency of mosquito control spraying at some notorious sanitation blackspots has already been increased to at least twice a month, and will be further increased to three times per month starting in July, he said.
According to CDC senior official Ma Cheng Man, Macau recorded 35 imported cases of dengue fever and one local case, as well as 38 imported cases and eight local cases of chikungunya fever last year. As of April 15, four imported cases of dengue fever and two imported cases of chikungunya fever have been recorded in 2026, she said.
Ma urged residents to regularly remove stagnant water in and around their homes, including water from flowerpot trays and air conditioner drip trays, adding that the bureau will set up ten public information stations about the potential health threat this weekend.
CDC official Kwok Kai Leung also reminded the public that they can install window screens with a mesh size of 20* or higher as a physical barrier against mosquitoes.
Public hospital physician Sam Ip Pio recommended that anyone who develops symptoms such as fever, joint pain, or pain behind the eyes should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
* When a screen is rated as 20 mesh, it means there are 20 openings across one inch (2.54 cm) of the screen. Because mesh is a grid, a 20x20 mesh screen contains 400 openings per square inch (20x20 = 400). Standard window screens are typically 18x16 mesh. While effective against flies, bees, and mosquitoes, they often fail to stop biting midges, gnats, or very small sand flies. – Gemini
The Health Bureau’s (SSM) public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHSCJ) physician Sam Ip Pio (second from left), Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) doctor Ieong Chon Kit (second from right), official Kwok Kai Leung (left) and senior official Ma Cheng Man look on during yesterday’s press conference at the bureau’s conference hall in a building adjacent to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre (CHSCJ). – Photo: Armindo Neves
