Mosquito control in District 4 — Xom Chieu, Khanh Hoi, Vinh Hoi

Resolution 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15 redrew the former District 4 as three wards from 1 July 2025, when Ho Chi Minh City gave up districts and kept wards as its local administrative units. Half a year earlier, mergers effective 1 January 2025 had already joined ward 6 with ward 9, ward 10 with ward 8 and ward 14 with ward 15, so the papers for one home may give its address in several ways. The building name, or the house number and lane, is enough for us.

All three wards are on our regular survey schedule; we arrange the date and hour of the survey and of the spraying in advance and confirm them with you.

Xom Chieu ward

Formerly wards 13, 16 and 18, with a part of the old ward 15 added; it looks towards the Saigon River and the Te canal. Icon 56, Saigon Royal and The Tresor line Ben Van Don, with long-established streets of townhouses further in.

Khanh Hoi ward

Wards 8 and 9 of the old district, plus a part each of wards 2 and 4 and the remainder of ward 15. Masteri Millennium stands here, among many rows of townhouses and older apartment blocks in the lanes.

Vinh Hoi ward

Wards 1 and 3 as they were, together with the leftover parts of wards 2 and 4; only the Ben Nghe canal lies between it and the city centre. Mostly townhouses, with mid-sized apartment buildings and flats to let.

The former District 4 is something like an island in the middle of the city, bounded on the north by the Ben Nghe canal, on the east by the Saigon River and on the south by the Te canal. Wikipedia gives its area as only about 4.18 km² and names it as one of the most crowded parts of the city. Near the river or a canal, mosquitoes hatch in standing water indoors and also fly in from outside, so one spraying lowers their numbers for a limited time; a more lasting result comes from spraying combined with regular clearing of standing water.

Many of the older residential areas also lie low. In 2020 the newspaper Thanh Nien described Vinh Khanh street and the Calmette quay area under tidal water on a day without rain. In a single-storey house there, look again after each high water at the buckets, basins, crates and trays kept on the porch and in the lane, which hold water for days.

Before any spraying, your Up specialist walks through the home with you and removes every container of water within safe reach; a high roof or a gutter with no way up is noted for a separate look.

Apartments in the canal-side towers

Plant saucers and the floor drain on the balcony, the aircon drip tray on the loggia, vases and bowls of water plants indoors; also whether the insect screen on the balcony door is whole or torn.

Townhouses and single-storey houses in the lanes

Puddles on the roof terrace, gutters blocked by leaves, a water tank with an open lid, buckets and basins in the bathroom and on the porch. Mosquitoes rest by day under the stairs and in dark ground-floor corners.

The person who sprays belongs to UpClean's own technical team. The product is on the permitted list, carries a valid registration number in Vietnam and is applied as the label directs.

The method our technicians choose

Space spraying quickly brings down the adult mosquitoes present at that moment but does not last long; spraying the places where mosquitoes rest, such as a shaded porch corner or the underside of an outdoor staircase, keeps working longer. The choice depends on the survey and on whether the home has small children, pets or a fish tank.

Your Up specialist

Empties, turns over and collects plant saucers, unused buckets and tarpaulins holding water, work that uses no chemicals and underlies every other method; covers fish tanks, balcony furniture and the children's play corner; then stays throughout so that spraying keeps to the agreed area.

We have no price list here, because an apartment with a small balcony and a multi-storey townhouse with a roof terrace are two quite different amounts of work. The survey costs nothing. A written all-inclusive quote then gives the area to be sprayed, the method, the re-entry time (how long people and pets keep out of a sprayed area) and the repeat schedule, and its amount is adjusted only when you approve the change in writing. It is based on:

• The type of home and what needs treating: balcony, loggia, porch, roof terrace, number of floors.
• Pot plants, water features, gullies and any water that cannot be removed.
• The method proposed and the number of repeat sprayings in the rainy season, roughly May to November.
• Warranty conditions, if any, exactly as the quote records them.

In the apartment towers on Ben Van Don, access is usually controlled, and many buildings set the hours when work is allowed.

• From the survey onwards, we need to know of anyone in the home who is very old, very young or has a respiratory illness, and of any pet birds, dogs, cats or fish.
• While spraying is under way, windows and the balcony door stay shut; laundry, toys and pets' food bowls should be put away.
• Fish tanks, bowls of water plants and the household water tank are closed or covered as our technicians tell you.
• People and pets go back into a sprayed area only after the re-entry time in the plan has ended; outdoor furniture is wiped first.
• Rain or strong wind usually postpones spraying; we send the new time for you to pass to building management.

Dengue, according to Vietnam's health ministry and the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City, is carried by the striped Aedes mosquito. Its eggs are laid where fairly clean water stands in a container round the home, and its bites come mostly in daylight, chiefly early in the morning and towards dusk. Hence the health service's familiar message, "no larvae, no dengue": what matters is getting rid of the places where mosquitoes lay eggs.

One spraying reduces adult mosquitoes for a while and is no substitute for what the health authorities do: co-operate when they spray at an outbreak site, and have anyone with a high fever examined at a medical facility, not treated by the family. Our technicians judge how soon to spray again and it goes into the quote. In between, emptying standing water weekly matters as much as the spraying itself:

• Each week, empty the balcony plant saucers and wipe the floor drain; keep water containers tightly covered and change vase water often.
• Turn unused buckets and basins over; look at the tray under the fridge and the aircon drip tray.
• Replace torn insect screens, and sleep under a net, by day as well.

Guide: mosquitoes at home in Ho Chi Minh City

What lowers their numbers, and when to consider spraying.

• Ring 0968 726 135 or write to it on WhatsApp or Zalo; mention the hours when mosquitoes are at their worst and send photos of the balcony, roof terrace or porch with the building name or house number.
• After the free survey the plan arrives in writing with the all-inclusive quote, naming the product, the area to be sprayed and the re-entry time; you need not decide straight away.
• After the visit your Up Report sets down the treated areas, the standing water that was cleared and the points to go on watching.
• Should a specialist turn up over 15 minutes after the confirmed time, that spraying is invoiced at 10% less. To move or cancel without charge, let us know more than 24 hours in advance; nearer the appointment than that, you are charged 30%.