KATHMANDU: The Ministry for Health and Population has decided to launch a ‘Search and Destroy Larva’ campaign to destroy mosquitoes and prevent and control dengue.

The Ministry is to launch a nationwide campaign to control dengue in view of rapidly growing cases in the country of late.

Over 7,500 dengue patients have been reported in the country since its breakout recently, according to the Ministry.

The Ministry wrote to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration so as to mobilize all 753 local levels to control the mosquito-borne viral disease.

The ‘Search and Destroy Larva’ campaign to be put in place aims to find out places where mosquitoes larva hide, and destroy them to prevent and control dengue, informed Bhim Prasad Sapkota, chief public health administrator in the Ministry.

Each local level will launch a drive that will encourage people in their locality to search or find the places where dengue-carrying mosquitoes lay eggs and destroy them.

The drive will be launched for around 10 minutes every Saturday at 10:00 am, shared Sapkota.

Local communities and people’s representatives will coordinate efforts to implement the campaign in each household every Saturday, according to Sapkota.

All the health posts and health institutions are asked to send the details of the dengue patients to the Ministry’s Epidemiology and Diseases Control Division.