Brazil authorises forced entry to private property to fight Zika

Rio De Janeiro/Geneva: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff authorized health officials to enter private properties by force if necessary in an effort to control the spread of the mosquito-borne virus Zika, which the government has dubbed an "imminent danger to public health."
The presidential decree was published in the government's official gazette on Monday and allows the forced entry by health officials into public and private properties if they have been abandoned or the owners are not present.
Officials are looking for breeding grounds for mosquitoes that can carry the virus, which has spread rapidly over the Americas and particularly in Brazil.
The World Health Organisation is meeting on Monday to decide whether to declare a global emergency.
The designation would fast-track international action and research priorities, following criticism of a hesitant response so far.
Although scientific research is still sparse on Zika, it is believed to be linked to increased rates of microcephaly in newborns, a condition in which the child is born with a smaller than average brain that can cause severe health and learning disabilities.
Local officials suspect nearly 4,000 babies may have been born recently with the condition, mostly in Brazil's northeast.
Zika is also suspected of having links to a rare condition known as Guillain-Barre, which can cause paralysis and death in extreme cases, in adults and children with compromised immune systems.
The United Nations agency said last week the Zika virus was "spreading explosively" and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas.
The WHO was criticised for reacting too slowly to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa which killed more than 10,000 people, and has promised to do better in future global health crises.
The 12 committee members, who are experts in epidemiology, public health and infectious diseases from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, discussed the issue in a telephone conference.
A news briefing will be held on Tuesday afternoon at the earliest, the WHO said.
Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said the WHO had "dropped the ball" on Ebola, when it took five months for the epidemic to be declared an emergency.
He told BBC Radio he expected a rapid response this time.
"I have all confidence that they will declare this as a public health emergency," he said.