China has declared war on the chikungunya virus. How much of a threat is it?

A worker uses a sprayer to eradicate mosquitos at a park in order to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne disease Chikungunya in Guangdong Province of China. And because chikungunya outbreaks are rare in China, he says “some of the measures are justified given the population has no immunity.” Typically, the virus is found in Africa, southeast Asia and South America. Chikungunya disease is caused by the chikungunya virus. How common are chikungunya outbreaks? So far this year, there have been roughly 240,000 cases of chikungunya and 90 deaths from the virus, mostly in South America.