The number of dengue cases in Negros Oriental continues to rise amid the rainy season, with 16 deaths recorded by the Department of Health, an official said on Friday.
Dr. Socrates Villamor, DOH provincial chief, said as of Aug. 17, their records show a total of 2,823 cases reported in the province since January 1 this year.
This is 209 percent higher compared with figures from the same period of last year, which recorded only 915 cases and six deaths.
Majority of the cases were from Dumaguete (12.1 percent), followed by Mabinay (9.3 percent), Bayawan City (8.7 percent), Siaton (9.0 percent), and Sibulan (7.5 percent).
The top 10 cities and municipalities with the highest dengue cases are Dumaguete with 329; Mabinay, 268; Bayawan City, 249; Siaton, 244; Sibulan, 210; Pamplona, 189; Bais City, 188; Sta. Catalina, 185; Guihulngan City, 165; and Basay, 115 cases.
The dengue deaths were reported in Basay with three casualties; Mabinay, Bayawan City, Siaton, Sibulan and Manjuyod with two each; and Dumaguete, Pamplona, and Guihulngan with one death due to dengue each.
Meanwhile, Villamor said while the current situation cannot be described as alarming, the public must remain vigilant because of the ballooning figures in dengue cases this year compared to the previous year.
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On the other hand, the DOH official said it is up to the local government unit concerned to declare an outbreak or epidemic area.
“Actually, the new protocol now is for the DOH to provide the data to the LGUs as to which areas have reached the epidemic threshold, then it’s up to the LGU to declare an epidemic outbreak in that specific area,” Villamor said.
As of now however, no area in Negros Oriental has been declared as having a dengue outbreak, he said.
Two months ago, Basay and Mabinay town had reached “epidemic threshold” but the LGUs did not make any declaration, and instead implemented measures to contain the outbreak, and attend to the high number of dengue cases, he added.
Meanwhile, barangays Candau-ay, Bagacay and Cadawinonan may consider declaring a state of calamity due to the high cases of dengue, City Health Officer Dr. Maria Sarah Talla said Friday.
Barangay Candau-ay registered the most number of dengue cases with 43; Bagacay with 28 confirmed cases while Cadawinonan had 21 dengue cases.
There are 239 dengue cases recorded from Jan. 1 to Aug. 19, higher than in 2014 with 238 cases and 2015 with 234.
In 2016, the number of dengue cases increased sharply to 680 before plunging to 268 in 2017, and rose again to 380 in 2018.
While Barangay Taclobo is not among the Top 3 hit by dengue, one of its residents became the sole fatality to dengue last week.
Talla said they will again initiate a massive city-wide search and destroy operations in cooperation with the 30 barangay captains to include the declogging of wastewater drains, sewers, esteros, canals and maintain the general cleanliness of streets and public places.
She also assured all barangays that the city government will continue to provide assistance in the search and destroy operations of the dengue carrying mosquitoes.
Dr. Talla observed that in Candau-ay, there are three junk shops that hoarde plastics and other containers which are potential breeding grounds of dengue mosquitoes. She has instructed the owners of the shops to dispose the recyclable materials.
The DOH has recently declared a national dengue epidemic, but it is still up to the individual LGUs like provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays to declare a state of calamity, based on the severity of the dengue affectation in their localities.
By declaring a state of calamity, an LGU can access or utilize its quick response fund of the five percent calamity fund that will allow them to purchase emergency medical supplies and equipment to combat the spread of dengue. (Judy F. Partlow and Dems Demecillo)
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