It’s been just a few weeks since the head-shrinking Zika virus exploded onto the scene after spreading “explosively” in South and Central America, but officials are already warning that the fallout could be far-reaching.
WHO, which warned last month that the “level of alarm is extremely high”, has declared that the spread of Zika in Brazil is a public health emergency of international concern. “Members of the committee agreed that the situation meets the conditions for a public health emergency” director Margaret Chan said after meeting with WHO’s international health regulations emergency committee.
“It is important to realise that when the evidence first becomes available of such a serious condition like microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities, we need to take action, including precautionary measures,” Chan added, referencing the nearly 4,000 cases of microcephaly that have popped up in Brazil since the beginning of last year.
“Brazil has dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops on mosquito-eradication campaigns in the the worst affected areas, but the government is struggling to comprehend let alone cope with the epidemic,” The Guardian writes. “We do not have a vaccine for Zika yet. The only thing we can do is fight the mosquito,” Dilma Rousseff told reporters during a visit to the emergency headquarters of the anti-Zika campaign. “As long as [the mosquitoes] are reproducing, we are all losing the battle. We have to mobilise to win it”.
So with no vaccine it’s Dilma versus the mosquitoes and she’s brought 220,000 troops to the fight.
Troops who, thanks to a new decree signed by Rousseff on Monday, will be able to enter private property even if no one is home in order to “eradicate breeding grounds.”
“The emergency measure will mainly open doors for state and municipal health workers sent out to destroy mosquito-breeding grounds—stagnant water typically left in buckets, drains or ditches,” WSJ said yesterday. “In other cases, Brazilian law requires authorities to obtain a warrant from a judge to enter private property without the owner present.”
Right. But no warrants are necessary when it comes to eradicating the Aedes mosquito, which is widely blamed for the scourge.
“This is the first time I remember since the start of last century, when we had the so called Vaccine War, that the government adopted a measure like this,” said Luiz Flavio Gomes, a former judge and a legal expert. “But the situation right now is dangerous and people are aware of the problem and likely to support the government’s decision.”
Yes, “people are likely to support the government’s decision,” until they come home one day to find troops and health workers donning scary-looking yellow hazmat suits rummaging through their belongings looking for mosquito “breeding grounds.”
So much like France suspended some civil liberties in order to combat “terror” in the wake of the Paris attacks, Brazil has now made it legal for authorities to enter private residences at will if Dilma thinks there may be some mosquitoes hanging out inside.
Of course there are mosquitoes everywhere in Brazil, which means there will almost always be an excuse for officials to enter private homes on a whim if they so choose.
We imagine the new law could come in quite handy should Brazilians start protesting in the streets for Rousseff’s removal again. As for Rousseff’s many vociferous political oponents, don’t get caught with a bucket of standing water on your porch or you just might find your house ransacked.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1TAF2Ek Tyler Durden