Jeddah Municipality has deployed 570 workers to spray insecticides in various parts of the city to kill mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Fahd Al-Daqsi, director general of environmental health at the municipality, said in a statement sent to Arab News that the workers are targeting areas with pools of stagnant water.

Al-Daqsi said spraying takes place weekly across the city, but the recent rainfall had created large pools of water that has seen a surge in the breeding of insects. He said the operations are being carried out close to residential areas most affected. The municipality aims to disrupt the 21-day breeding cycle of mosquitoes.

The health directorate is also participating in the operations. Each affected neighborhood has been assigned teams to look for insect larvae and compile reports.

This comes in the wake of Jeddah residents calling on the municipality to mop up all stagnant pools of water in the city because they fear an outbreak of dengue fever.

Arab News reported this week that residents in the city, especially in south Jeddah, fear that the municipality has not realized the enormity of the health threat posed by the mosquito-breeding pools, and would be too slow to take action.

They accused the municipality of not making “any effort” to remove the pools of water despite complaints from residents. An official from the health Directorate in Jeddah told Arab News that 40 locations had been identified where mosquitoes are breeding in large numbers and are a clear threat to public health. The official urged the municipality and agriculture department to take urgent action.

Medical sources told Arab News that cases of dengue fever have been on the rise since last week. One health official said there have been more than 50 cases identified, but these figures are far below those reported during the same period last year.