The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department today announced that it will launch the second round of an eight-week anti-rodent operation in target areas of various districts on November 1.

In view of the fruitful results of the previous anti-rodent operations in target areas, the department noted that it will continue to conduct two rounds of the operation this year, with the first round completed in June.

During the operation’s second round, the department will conduct a trial with an enhanced version of the anti-rodent operations in targeted areas in Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai and Yuen Long to cover more rodent black spots, including public markets and municipal services buildings, hawker bazaars and rear lanes adjacent to food premises.

In addition to strengthening the application of thermal cameras to detect rodent activities across the city, the department explained that analysing the rodent traces detected at different stages of the operations helps to devise an appropriate anti-rodent strategy.

Each District Environmental Hygiene Office will identify its target areas and continue to adopt multipronged strategies aimed at improving environmental hygiene and stepping up rodent disinfestation and enforcement actions.

The department's staff will enhance street cleaning services and cleaning of public markets and hawker bazaars in the target areas, including sweeping and cleaning of streets and rear lanes, emptying and cleaning of litter containers and clearance of miscellaneous articles and waste.

Rodent prevention and control work will be strengthened at problematic spots such as rear lanes, refuse collection points, markets, hawker bazaars, cooked food markets and peripheral areas of construction sites by placing poisonous baits and traps, destroying rat holes and implementing rodent-proofing measures.

Furthermore, inspections of food premises will be stepped up. Enforcement action against food premises causing poor environmental hygiene conditions, scullery and food preparation in rear lanes, and improper handling and disposal of rubbish will be strengthened.

The department added that it will adopt a zero tolerance approach against common public cleanliness offences and take stringent enforcement action against illegal waste disposal.