MEDICAL Center Chief II Dr. Julius M. Drilo of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital said that 800 dengue patients are being treated at the regional hospital since January to July 2019. They had 12 deaths since January.

He said dengue is a preventable disease, but having 800 patients infected with it is already alarming.

"Dengue is with us for one year. There were spikes that we observed in a particular part of the year which, from previous experiences and national statistics, it has no pattern. There are four strains of dengue virus and there is one strain that is prevalent," he said.

"The solution to it is to clean our surroundings," he said.

Drilon added, "We experienced double whammy now because there was also a surge of measles in the 3rd to 4th quarter of 2018. When it went down, we saw the rising trend or incidence of dengue. Now that it is rainy season, we expect a disease entity that emerges which we call season-related, such as pneumonia and other diarrheal disease, and it is hitting children."

Bacolod City still has the most number of admitted dengue cases. In June 2019 alone, they had 252 dengue patients. It had becoming alarming because their budget had depleted towards the end of the year.

"We have been asking support from our Central office but it takes time before those funds are trickled down. But, we have prepared our facility considering that these dengue cases is a whole year thing. Every three years, there is a surge or increasing number of Dengue cases," he said.