Swarms of hornets have killed 42 people in northwestern China in recent months, state media said on Thursday, as temperatures rise and development drives the stinging insects into cities.
The terrifying attacks started in July, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, with 1,640 people having been stung.
Of those, 206 are being treated in hospital, it quoted the National Health and Family Planning Commission as saying.
“With the development of air-conditioning, urban landscaping and residential environment, hornets have started to migrate and relocate to cities, which has increased the probability of their hurting people,” Xinhua said in a report on Wednesday.
It carried a photo of a doctor examining a hospitalised patient with several large and swollen sting wounds on the legs.
It also quoted Huang Rongyao – a senior official concerned with pest control in the city of Ankang, which has borne the brunt of the attacks – as attributing the phenomenon to warmer-than-usual temperatures in the region.