China is fighting a major outbreak of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease, with nearly 8,000 cases reported in less than a month, mostly in the city of Foshan in Guangdong province. Authorities have imposed measures reminiscent of the country's strict zero-Covid policy, including quarantine zones, mandatory testing, and fines for non-compliance.
Soldiers wearing masks are spraying insecticides in parks and streets, while drones are deployed to identify mosquito breeding sites. In an unusual biological control measure, authorities have introduced 'elephant mosquitoes' whose larvae prey on the virus-carrying species. More than 5,000 larva-eating fish have been released into Foshan's lakes.
Residents are ordered to discard stagnant water, and community workers are inspecting homes. Households and businesses that do not cooperate risk fines of up to 10,000 yuan or criminal charges for 'obstructing the prevention of infectious diseases'. Two residents told The New York Times that workers entered their homes without consent to search for stagnant water, and some plants were destroyed. About five houses had their electricity cut for non-compliance.
Social media users criticised the measures as unnecessary. 'What's the point of the quarantine? It's not as though an infected patient will then go around biting other people,' a user wrote on Weibo. In Hong Kong, a 12-year-old boy who travelled to Foshan in July has been diagnosed with chikungunya fever.
China's vice-premier Liu Guozhong has called for an all-out effort to prevent the spread of the disease. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice for China. The World Health Organisation has warned that an estimated 5.6 billion people live in areas at risk from the virus, which can cause fever, joint pain, and long-term disability in severe cases.
Although the number of new locally transmitted cases has declined in Guangdong over the past week, the risk remains, according to Kang Min of the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The recent surge has been initially contained, with a downward trend in newly reported cases across the province,' he said.
