Cordi dengue cases drop by 78 percent

By Liza Agoot 

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Health in the Cordillera Administrative Region reported a 78-percent decrease in dengue cases from Jan. 1 to June 6.

Based on the DOH-CAR report, the region recorded 539 cases during the period -- a 78-percent drop compared to 2,544 cases during same period in 2019.

This year’s record also showed there were two deaths-- involving a 15-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy in Baguio -- attributed to dengue while there were six deaths last year.

The report showed Benguet topped list of cases this year with 200 or a 52-percent drop; Kalinga, 81 or a 73-percent drop; Apayao, 68 or 86-percent drop; Baguio, 55 or 52-percent decrease; Ifugao and Abra, 34 each with an 86-percent and 85-percent drop respectively; and Mountain Province with 21 or 88-percent drop in cases.

“There is no clustering of cases. The region is not in the alert threshold but some provinces in the region were observed to exceed the epidemic threshold,” the report said.

There were 46 cases involving non-CAR residents compared to last year’s 448.

The drop in the number of cases involving non-residents is attributed to the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine, where restrictions were implemented at the borders of the local governments, including here where the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) is located.

The report also showed that the ages of patients were from eight months to 90 years old and 62 percent of the total cases involved men.

The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit earlier reminded the public to continue maintaining a clean surrounding and destroy the breeding grounds of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in the communities. (PNA)