Millions of genetically modified mosquitoes could be released into the state of Florida to combat Zika virus after 15 people caught the disease from local insects.

Congress could decide within weeks to grant an emergency licence to British biotech company Oxitec, which has engineered a line of insects whose offspring are unable to grow to adulthood, and so cannot reproduce.

The company has already build a lab in the Florida Keys and is just waiting for the green light from the government and health officials.