In this undated file photo provided byt he USDA, an aedes aegypti mosquito is shown on human skin.

Dengue fever cases in Jeddah drop by 70 percent in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year because of the city’s mosquito eradication program, according to a senior official.

Sami Al-Ghamdi, director of public relations and media at the municipality, said there were 460 cases recorded over the past five months.

He said the municipality has established three laboratories that deal with various parts of the eradication program including testing food and water, determining the quality of pesticides and discovering new species of insects and mosquitoes.

One laboratory is helping to identify mosquito-breeding sites, which allows the municipal teams to do their work more effectively.

Al-Ghamdi said the department identified 4,885 locations including 76 plant nurseries, 18 farms, 360 public parks, 67 brick plants, 36 managerial buildings, and 4,328 buildings under construction.

“We discovered around 23,687 hot spots with full adult mosquitoes and 188,887 in the larvae stage. In the process, we also checked 800 schools, 180 housing complexes, 32 military complexes, 480 mosques and 50 sewage drainage sites.

The city’s squads found several schools with pools of water, in bathrooms, reservoirs, and plant-basins. The teams sprayed these areas with various types of pesticides.