Press Releases
Legislation amended to combat mosquito breeding
The Government today (May 12) gazetted the Public Health and Municipal Services
(Amendment) Ordinance 2006 to more effectively tackle mosquito breeding problems
arising from accumulation of water. The Ordinance came into immediate effect.
A spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said that after the
amendment, when there was a mosquito-related health hazard in Hong Kong, staff
of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) might apply for a
warrant from the court to enter premises to take immediate actions against
mosquito breeding without issuing a prior notice requiring the people
responsible for the premises to remove accumulated water.
The Government would recover the costs incurred in the operation from those
responsible for the premises, such as the occupier, owner, or the person
responsible for the management of the premises.
"The FEHD will apply for a court warrant only when it fails to contact the
occupier or owner of the property where mosquito-related health hazard is
identified. If the department could contact the relevant occupier, owner or
manager of the land before it obtained a warrant and entered the property, it
would ask them to remove the accumulated water on their own as far as possible,"
the spokesman stressed.
The amendment ordinance stipulated that the management body of a property had to
be held legally liable for mosquito breeding in common areas. It also set out
that the management body should be vested responsible for the prevention of
mosquito breeding and clearance of mosquito breeding places.
The spokesman said the ordinance did not seek to make prosecution easier but
rather to expressly provide that a person would be guilty of an offence only if
mosquito-related health hazard was attributable to any act, default or
sufferance of that person.
"The success of anti-mosquito work hinges on the co-operation of the Government
and the public. People should always clear accumulated water and take
appropriate measures to prevent mosquito breeding," the spokesman said.
"Mosquito-related health hazard" refers to any potential mosquito breeding
grounds found within a 500-metre radius of a recent local or imported case of
dengue fever; or any potential mosquito breeding grounds found within a two-kilometre
radius of a recent local case of Japanese encephalitis; and any areas where the
area ovitrap indices are above 40%."
Ends/Friday, May 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 10:39
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