DIGOS CITY—Despite reports of an alarming increase on dengue cases in the country, the virus that hit Digos City in Davao del Sur can now be contained as incidence of the disease is starting to decrease.

In an interview, Digos City health officer Milagros Sunga said their latest weekly dengue report revealed that the number of dengue cases decreased to 30 on the first week of August.

“If the number of reported cases of dengue continues to decline, we can say that the dengue virus has been contained in our area,” Sunga told reporters in Filipino during the first visit of Health Secretary Enrique Ona to barangay de Mayo in Digos City.

Sunga said that since the dengue virus hit the city, they have been conducting weekly dengue reports in the community.

She said that 90 cases were reported in the area during the last week of July.

The city health official said that the month of July saw the highest number of dengue cases in Digos with 368 individuals who acquired the virus, followed by the month of June with 273 incidents.

From January to July this year, there were a total of 852 cases with 12 deaths; four dengue patients died in June and July; two in March; and one in May and January.

Ona said in an interview that the surge of dengue cases last June and July is attributable to the El Niño weather phenomenon.

“The increase in dengue cases can be attributable to the El Niño phenomenon the country is experiencing,” he said, adding that continuous rains can also be blamed for the rise in the number of cases.

Sunga said that because of the drought brought by El Niño, people tend to save water in household containers, a common breeding ground for mosquitoes.

A favorite target of the aedes mosquito, which carries the virus, are children 5 to 14 years old.

The city health officer clarified that the virus did not come from schools, but from the community where there are many breeding sites for the virus-carrying mosquito.

Since the outbreak, the health city office started conducting trainings on the right way of fogging and started doing systematic fogging three times a week.

The city has requested P1.5 million to contain the spread of dengue in the area. The amount will be used for training, contingency plan against dengue and procurement of fogging machine and protective equipment for foggers.

Meanwhile, the DOH reported that from January to July this year, dengue cases nationwide reached 40,648 or 48 percent higher than last year’s 27,473 for the same period, with 328 dying from the virus this year.

Most of the cases came from Central Mindanao (5,259 cases), Western Visayas (4,511), Eastern Visayas (4,086), Calabarzon (4,034), Southern Mindanao (3,875), Northern Mindanao (3,603), and the National Capital Region (3,452).

Victims ranged in age from less than a month to 95 years old. Majority (52 percent) of the cases were male. The most affected age groups were ages 1-10 and 11-20 years. More deaths were also recorded in these two age groups.

Ona disclosed that outbreaks were detected in Gasan, Marinduque and barangay Banica, Lawaan in Roxas City, Capiz.

Hotspots were observed in barangays Minoyan, Murcia, Carabalan,  Aguisan in Himalayan City and Concepcion, Bubog in Negros Occidental; barangays Bata, Singcang, Banago, Tangub, Taculing, Pahanocoy, Felisa, Villamonte and Mansilingan in Bacolod City; and barangays Lanot, Malibili, Tiza, and Bolo in Roxas City.

A hotspot is defined as a clustering of cases with increasing number in the past four weeks.

Clustering of cases occur when there are three or more cases in a barangay in the past four weeks. Clustering of cases were noted in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, La Union, and Ilocos Sur in the Ilocos Region; Cagayan in Cagayan Valley; Zambales, Aurora, Tarlac, and Bulacan in Central Luzon; Rizal, Quezon, Laguna, and Batangas in Calabarzon; Marinduque, Palawan, and Mindoro Oriental in Mimaropa; Albay. Masbate and Camarines Sur in Bicol Region; Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Iloilo City, Negros Occidental, and Bacolod City in Western Visayas; Bohol, Negros Oriental, Cebu in Central Visayas.

There were also clustering of cases in  Biliran, Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, and Leyte in Eastern Visayas; Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur in Western Visayas; Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and  Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao; Davao City, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental in Southern Mindanao; Sarangani Province, Cotabato City, General Santos City, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, and South Cotabato in Central Mindanao; Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region of Moslem Mindanao; Baguio City, Mountain Provicne, Benguet anmd Apayao in the Cordillera Administrative Region; Agusan del Sur in CARAGA and Metro Manila at the National Capital Region (NCR).

At the National Capital Region, most of the cases are from Quezon City (754), Manila (606), Kalookan (372), Navotas (227), and Valenzuela (221). Other cities include Malabon (182), Mandaluyong (171), Marikina (165), Pasig (144), Pasay (126), Makati (119), and Parañaque (114).

The health chief reminded the public that dengue, although an all-year round disease, is more common during rainy days when there are more potential breeding sites for the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

To prevent dengue, Ona advised the public to destroy all mosquito breeding sites like old tires and tin cans; always clean roof gutters; replace water in flower vases regularly, and use mosquito nets or protective clothing. He also stressed that fogging may be done only in outbreak areas.