Mosquito threat forces law change
Government officers are now able to enter private property with a court warrant and without notice to tackle mosquito problems.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has been given the powers by the Public Health and Municipal Services (Amendment) Ordinance, which was gazetted yesterday.
Before the law was amended, the department had to give owners notice before taking any measures to control mosquito breeding, which is blamed for the spread of some potentially fatal diseases, including Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever.
The government will also recover costs from the owners for its anti-mosquito operations. A spokesman for the department said the amendment would save the department time in identifying the owners of vacant property.
'The department will apply for a court warrant only when it fails to contact the occupier or owner of the property where a mosquito-related health hazard is identified,' the spokesman said.
'If the department can contact the relevant occupier, owner or manager of the land before it obtains the warrant, it will ask them to remove accumulated water on their own as far as possible.'
