The Manitoba government says it’s going to start spraying for mosquitoes in the Altona area and parts of Winnipeg on Friday evening, if weather permits.
There are high numbers of mosquitoes and evidence of mosquito infection with West Nile virus, the province said in a news release Thursday.
The spraying will cover the town of Altona and an approximately three-kilometre extended zone in the rural municipality Rhineland.
Spraying will also happen in the Winnipeg neighbourhoods of Bridgwater Lakes, Tuxedo Industrials, Wilkes South, Linden Ridge, Linden Woods, Whyte Ridge, West Fort Garry Industrial, Riverbend and Rosser-Old Kildonan, the news release said.
Parts of the rural municipalities of MacDonald and West St. Paul are also included in the spraying.
The risk of human exposure to West Nile virus is high at this time and will likely continue to be during the high-risk period from mid-July to mid-August, the news release said.
However, no locally acquired human cases of West Nile virus have been confirmed in Manitoba, the release said.
As of Aug. 1, 34 mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile virus in the Southern Health region, according to data on the province’s website. Seven mosquitoes in Winnipeg and one in the Interlake-Eastern health region have also tested positive for the virus.
DeltaGard 20EW, a Health Canada-approved pesticide, will be sprayed.
The treatment times and area map will be available on the province’s website, the province said.