Fig. 6: The presence and spatial-temporal dynamics of wPip-positive samples in the field.

a Comparison of the wPip-positive female rates detected in HC males in the mass-rearing facility (laboratory quality control) and the positive female rate monitored in the adults collected via BG traps as well as the wPip-positive rate of ovitraps from the field sites. b The wPip-positive females and larvae detected in the field. Ovitraps with larvae: the number of retrieved ovitraps containing eggs that were hatched to larvae in the laboratory; Adults: the number of adult A. albopictus collected via BG traps; wPip-positive: the number of wPip-positive female adult or pooled larva samples. c Spatial distribution of wPip-positive larvae collected from the control site, release site and buffer site, shown as red dots and marked with the collection time in the format of “Month-Day-Year”. d Spatial distribution of wPip-positive adult females collected from the release site, control site and buffer site, shown as mosquito symbols and colored according to the number of wPip-positive females. No significant difference in the weekly number of wPip-positive females (two-sided Mann–Whitney test, phase-I: n = 5, phase-II: n = 9, P = 0.1069) and larvae (two-sided Mann–Whitney test, phase-I: n = 5, phase-II: n = 9, P = 0.5055) was observed in phase II compared to phase I at the release site and buffer site, and there was no evidence that the number of wPip-positive female and larvae mosquitoes increased over time. Phase I: July 6, 2020–August 10, 2020; Phase II: August 10, 2020–October 12, 2020; Post-release-2020: October 12, 2020–November 1, 2020; Post-release-2021: May 2021 to September 2021.