Rio Olympics to charge teams for mosquito screens to prevent Zika

Municipal workers spray insecticide at Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Even as athletes grow increasingly concerned about the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, the organising committee for the August Olympics in Rio de Janeiro said it will charge national delegations to have mosquito screens on athletes' rooms.

The screens, one measure Brazilians are using to help ward off the mosquito that is the primary transmitter of Zika, will be installed in communal areas "where required" but only affixed to lodging if national delegations decide to pay for it, said Philip Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Rio 2016 organising committee.