Elvis (second left) chairs the meeting on the dengue outbreak.
KAPIT: All village security and development committees, resettlement areas, villages and schools here have been instructed to immediately hold gotong-royong cleaning campaigns.
Kapit District Officer Elvis Didit said major cleaning is necessary in the war against dengue.
“We do not want Kapit to be a reservoir for dengue. Statistics revealed that we have an alarming 79 cases of dengue (April 1-12l) and 25 of the cases are within the town areas,” he said during a committee meeting on Tuesday.
“Thus we want to put a stop to this dengue menace with the involvement of the community including the community leaders to carry out the spring cleaning in their respective areas.”
Elvis said all who carried out gotong-royong must send in photographs of their activities to the district office.
He also called on the Kapit Chinese Chamber of Commerce to instruct its members to inspect their premises, destroy mosquito breeding grounds and kill adult mosquitoes.
Meanwhile, the Health Department and Kapit District Council have intensified efforts to destroy mosquito breeding grounds and conduct preventive fogging to kill adult mosquitoes to prevent dengue from spreading to rural areas.
The Health Department has also sought the assistance of personnel from Belaga, Sungai Asap, Song, Julau, Betong and Sri Aman.