Joshua Parfitt
CEMETERIES on the Costa Blanca are panicking that visitors leaving flowers in vases and glasses could cause a boom in mosquitos on this week’s All Saints’ Day.
Two cemeteries in the city of Elche have launched information campaigns urging families visiting the deceased to use ‘as little water as possible’.
The All Saints’ Day Campaign also asks visitors to throw earth on ‘plates, glasses and vases’ to remove potential mosquito breeding sites.
Elche’s cemetary manager Héctor Díez warned ‘it is still a fertile time for mosquitos’ despite a reduction in summer heat.
He said fumigation has already been carried out in the two cemeteries in Elche, meanwhile larvicidal treatment has been carried out in numerous cemeteries in and around Alicante city.
Environmental management company Lokímica likewise advised visitors to used sponges and gels instead of water to keep cut flowers hydrated.
It comes as the Costa Blanca has been hit by huge numbers of mosquitos following the gota fría floods in September.
READ MORE: Over a dozen authorities call for instant action against mosquito plagues in Spain
The tiger mosquito is a vector for viral diseases dengue, chikungunya and zika and is a public health risk.
