Apologising for his yesterday's comment on chikungunya, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Annisul Huq today said he could not express himself properly.

Yesterday, the mayor at a press conference at the DNCC Nagar Bhaban said, "Aedes mosquitoes breed in clear water that is mostly kept inside residences. We cannot go inside people's homes to stop mosquitoes from spreading."

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Before kicking off a rally on creating awareness in controlling mosquitoes in front of DNCC headquarters in Gulshan-2, Dhaka today, Annisul Huq said "But the way I said, I failed to convey it properly—may be".

"We wanted to say we don't have the right to go inside a residence," quoting the DNCC mayor Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports.

"If anyone is hurt by my speech, we are sorry," he said.

"A journalist friend asked me the question that whether we are creating awareness on mosquito nets. I said it showing the photograph of a mosquito net from one of our awareness posters," Prothom Alo reports quoting the DNCC mayor.

Annisul Huq yesterday blamed the mosquito population inside people's houses for the chikungunya outbreak.

He claimed the viral disease was spreading fast because of the mosquito populations inside households, rather than those growing in the city's drainage system.