Department Of Health Declares National Dengue Alert
DENGUE ALERT – The Department of Health (DOH) recently declared a nationwide dengue alert in lieu of the rapid increase of reported dengue cases.
DOH previously warned the public on July 1 to take precautionary measures on possible diseases in the rainy season such as dengue and leptospirosis, further raising public awareness on regions 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12.
They also previously revealed that the number of cases of dengue as of April 2019 was at about 60,000, with Central Visayas as the highest with at about 6.9K cases.
Recently, as reported by Health Secretary Francisco Duque, as of June 29, 2019, the number of cases of dengue rose at about 106,630 which is 85% higher than the previous report of this year.
According to Inquirer, Duque added that this is the first time ever that they declared a national alert in order to spread public awareness to the nation, especially areas with early dengue increases.
He however, did not declare a national epidemic since the cases are localized, further noting that the top regions with high cases are Western Visayas (13,164), Calabarzon (11, 474), Central Visayas (9, 199), Soccsksargen (9, 107) and Northern Mindanao (8, 739).
Duque said, however, that due to the regions exceeding the epidemic threshold, it is a regional epidemic.
The regions that are currently monitored after exceeding alert level are as follows:
- Ilocos region;
- Cagayan Valley;
- Calabarzon;
- Bicol region;
- Eastern Visayas;
- Zamboanga Peninsula;
- Davao region;
- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; and
- Cordillera Administrative Region.
As per the report, Duque lastly explained that dengue is a viral disease with no known vaccine or specific antivirals, further adding that effective monitoring can also help in reducing the cases and deaths if areas are identified early.
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