Spanish holiday hotspot Costa Del Sol could experience a spike in tiger mosquitoes, as the coronavirus lockdown draws vacationers away, resulting in less property maintenance, according to local Spanish media Murcia Today. Local officials are spraying the area with insecticides so that the mosquito population does not conquer the retreat when the tourists are finally back.
Weather has helped the pesky insects, Murcia Today reported, as heavy rainfalls have left pools of water that make for perfect breeding conditions for the pests.
Its combination with abandoned places amid the coronavirus lockdown could lead to a perfect insect storm, resulting in the Murcia town hall stepping up its spraying of areas against the tiger mosquitoes.
It could help if the water pools created by the rainfalls were eliminated, but many owners cannot visit their second residences to undertake basic maintenance. Since the emergency lockdown was not expected, not every housekeeper made sure there were no containers accumulating water before becoming quarantined.
While their bite is little different from the bite of an ordinary mosquito, Tiger mosquitoes are capable of transmitting dengue fever to humans. However, as the Tiger mosquito is twice the size of an ordinary mosquito, and while it can be controlled, it is almost impossible to completely eradicate the population.
A possible mosquito invasion is yet another problem for holiday retreats in Spain, as it is still unclear when beaches will reopen, provided that the anti-coronavirus lockdown is lifted.
Currently, there are 220,235 confirmed cases in Spain, with a death toll of over 25,000 people, according to global data assembled and reported by Johns Hopkins University.