Continued mosquito vigilance

A reminder to residents to continue to fight the bite and take precautions to stop mosquito breeding around your homes and properties.

Simple changes around your home can reduce mosquito breeding. Remove, empty or cover water-holding containers. Keep swimming pools properly maintained and free of debris and empty wading pools at the end of each day.

Personal protection is the best way to prevent being bitten. It is advised to cover up by wearing wear long, loose-fitting, light coloured clothing, covering as much of the body as you can. When outdoors and mosquitoes are present, apply insect repellent containing picaridin or DEET (diethyltoluamide) evenly to exposed skin. If you spend long periods of time outdoors, you may need to reapply your repellent.

The Shire at this stage is not considering fogging due to environmental risk and the non-select nature that this course of action takes, killing other critical insects.

We continuously monitor and identify mosquito breeding sites such as standing bodies of water and treating breeding sites with larvicide as a more effective and more selective strategy than fogging to reduce mosquito numbers.

We also continue to work with the Department of Health and the University of Western Australia to monitor virus activity through our sentinel chicken surveillance system.

For media information contact:

Alison Lennon - Manager Media and Communications, Shire of Ashburton

M: 0409 314 140 | E: [email protected]

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