THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 has expressed alarm over rising cases of dengue fever in Central Visayas during the first two months of 2020.
Compared to the same period in 2019, DOH 7 saw a close to two percent increase in dengue incidents from January to February this year with 5,933 people infected with the virus.
The DOH 7 also recorded 22 deaths during the same period.
The Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit of the DOH 7 reported that dengue cases from January to February 2020 were 1.52 percent higher compared to the same period last year which registered 5,883 patients.
But the number of fatalities from January to February last year were was higher, with at least 34 recorded deaths.
Of the cities and towns in Central Visayas, Cebu City remained on top of the DOH 7 list with the most number of dengue cases (692) and deaths (3) recorded from January to February 2020.
However, the figure was less compared to the same period last year which reported 821 cases with seven deaths.
Next to Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City registered the highest number from January to February with 568 dengue cases. Last year, Lapu-Lapu City had 435 cases with one death for the same period.
Mandaue City came third with 286 cases with one death. Last year, the city reported 279 cases and two deaths from January to February.
The municipality of Talibon, Bohol came in fourth with 270 cases with one death. Last year, the town had 95 cases with no deaths.
Carcar City, southern Cebu was fifth on the DOH 7 list with 220 cases.
DOH 7 Director Jaime Bernadas said he was worried about the rising incidents especially since they thought that 2020 was going to have fewer dengue cases compared to 2019.
The DOH declared a national dengue epidemic in August last year due to the high number of cases and deaths reported from January to July.
With the number of dengue cases slowly rising this year, Bernadas called on the public to always be watchful of dengue even with the current jitters on the coronavirus disease.
Bernadas said precautionary measures must always be in place such as: conducting search and destroy operations on potential mosquito breeding sites, implementing self-protection measures, seeking early consultation once dengue symptoms are prevalent, and fogging and spraying dengue hotspot areas where an increase in dengue cases has been noted. (HBL / JKV )