Abu Dhabi intensified efforts to control the spread of mosquitos and flies and curtail breeding.
The insects can proliferate dramatically between March until May.
This led officials at the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre (Tadweer) to look for innovative ways to control the pests.
Mosquitoes need water to breed. Females lay eggs in pools and adult flying mosquitoes emerge 10 days later.
Tadweer is placing digital traps, draining stagnant pools of water and spraying sustainable pesticides.
The traps record and monitor mosquito activity every 15 minutes. The count is sent automatically to Tadweer's electronic database, so the pest controllers can evaluate the level of infestation.
In 2020, 2,073,453 mosquitoes were monitored through the digital traps.
Potential breeding sites on farms and in residential areas are also monitored, and measures are taken to destroy them.
“Abu Dhabi continues to take significant measures to protect the public health and safety despite the challenges facing our field teams in delivering this mission,” said Mohammed Al Marzouqi, pest control projects director at Tadweer.
“We utilise the latest equipment and technologies to improve our capabilities, to keep the emirate clean and free from diseases.”
Last year, the centre handled more than 3,600 mosquito prevention requests and its field teams discovered 5,303,205 sites where mosquitos could potentially breed. Only a small number – 0.6 per cent – of these sites were found to have mosquitos breeding. Tadweer then contained them.
“The pesticides used in our operations meet all safety and sustainability requirements approved by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment,” Mr Al Marzouqi said.
“This helps us achieve the best results in controlling pest proliferation and ensuring environmental sustainability, while protecting the community from diseases caused by various annoying and disease-carrying pests.”
Tadweer’s pest control team comprises 1,259 employees, including 382 technical and inspection personnel to monitor and control mosquitos, he said.
“The team also seeks the support of additional [workers] to deal with any urgent proliferation cases," he said.
The centre regularly monitors areas that create fertile ground for mosquito breeding, such as stagnant water in swamps, permanent and seasonal water bodies, irrigation ponds and septic tanks on farms, sewerage drains, and unused fountains and swimming pools in homes and gardens.
