The virus is transmitted by infected mosquitoes, so China is using giant "compulsive killers", known as elephant mosquitoes, whose larvae "devour" the Aedes mosquito, which passes chikungunya to people, said The Telegraph.

Thousands of cases of the chikungunya virus, which sickens people bitten by an infected mosquito, have broken out in China during the past week. The virus causes extremely severe joint pain and fever,

More people have been sickened in China's record-breaking outbreak, officials say, after cases were also detected in Taiwan and Hong Kong.