IN A bid to fight dengue, Aedes mosquitoes injected with the Wolbachia bacteria have been released at eight new areas in the Petaling district this year.
This biological vector control management method works by preventing the dengue virus from breeding in the mouth glands of Aedes mosquitoes, if the organism is present.
Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (PH-Seri Serdang) said that research showed a 70% to 80% reduction in dengue cases at the seven hotspots in Selangor where the Wolbachia bacteria was released back in 2017.
Dr Siti Mariah, who is also state health, welfare, women empowerment and family committee chairman, said this in response to a question by Michelle Ng (PH-Subang Jaya) at the state assembly sitting yesterday.
“Because of the reduction, the Wolbachia bacteria was released in eight more localities, all within the Petaling district in July this year.“In the seven initial locations, we also saw a reduction of reported dengue cases and deaths, but it took two years before the results were evident, ” Dr Siti Mariah said in reply to an additional question posed by Ng.
Ng wanted to know the time frame for results to be seen once the Wolbachia strain of mosquitoes had been released in a particular area.
Dr Siti Mariah then explained that based on the first experiment in 2017, they were only seeing results now, after two years, which made the state continue its efforts in releasing the Wolbachia bacteria at more areas.
On the matter of plastic waste, local government, public transportation and new village development executive councillor Ng Sze Han said local councils did not issue Import Permit (AP).
His reply was to the question from Ronnie Liu (PH-Sungai Pelek).
“The power to offer these APs belongs only to the Federal Government.
“The Selangor government has made it a mandatory requirement for all local councils to only consider approving business licences to those with AP issued by the National Solid Waste Department.
“It must have Environment Department’s (DOE) approval on the environmental impact evaluation too.
“This is to curb illegal plastic waste imports which lead to negative environmental and economic impact, ” said Sze Han.
He added the local councils would look into technical issues such as planning approval and building plans as well as obtain technical planning from DOE prior to approving the licence.
“Local councils do not offer AP, they only issue business licences.”
He added local councils are always on the lookout for new illegal plastic waste factories and carry out enforcement in collaboration with the relevant authorities.
Still on the issue of waste, the assembly was informed that Kumpulan Darul Ehsan (KDEB) Waste Management Sdn Bhd, which handles waste and cleaning in Selangor, had given out a total of 930 contracts – 421 for waste management and 509 for cleaning works.
Ng said these contracts were spread out across all local councils in Selangor except for Shah Alam City Council, as KDEB Waste Management will only be taking over services in the state capital in January next year.
He was replying to a question posed by Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar (PH-Meru) who wanted to know the breakdown for rubbish and cleaning contractors statewide.
The local council with the highest number of contractors assigned to collect domestic waste is Klang with 68 contracts and for cleaning, Petaling Jaya has 97 contracts awarded.
Sabak Bernam District Council only has nine rubbish contracts and nine cleaning contracts awarded to service the entire district.
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