Members of the Legislative Assembly are anxious to pass a bill aiming to penalize huge breeding grounds for mosquitos because cases of zika, dengue fever and chikungunya are alarmingly increasing in Costa Rica.
Antonio Álvarez, president of the Legislative Assembly, said he will talk to leaders of legislative parties to make this bill a priority. The bill, named Ley para el Control de Poblaciones de Insectos Vectores de Enfermedades, is in position 209 in the legislation agenda.
The bill proposes monetary fines to those who have breeding grounds for mosquitos. Fines will go from 10% to 50% out of a basic wage. Currently, the law only allows sanitary fines (300 colones to 500 colones) for people who threaten public health.
In just one week, Ministry of Health reported 612 cases of Costa Rican who were stung by Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Two weeks ago there were 7,376 affected people, whereas last week the number of confirmed dengue fever cases reached the alarming number of 7,711. This week the number rose to 8,323.
Regarding zika, Ministry of Health’s epidemiological, official bulletin shows that last week there were 20 new zika cases, so the number rose to 127 patients.
Chikungunya cases, on the other hand, increased to 57 cases. Last week, affected people were 1,483. However, this week the cases went up to 1,540.