Kathmandu, Sept. 8 -- On Friday, health workers deployed from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City inspected Singha Durbar for potential breeding grounds for dengue-spreading mosquitoes.

The staffers working under the city's Health Department could inspect only a few offices, but what they saw on the office premises of the government's central secretariat were alarming.

"We found stagnant water and Aedes mosquito larvae in discarded tyres, plastic cups, bottles, and dumped toilet commodes in almost all offices," said Rishi Bhusal, an epidemic control inspector at the city office. "We concluded that the offices inside Singhadurbar have also been providing breeding grounds to the virus-spreading vectors."

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted...