Six have already died while over 1,834 have been downed by dengue in Palawan alone as of July 20, records of the Department of Health showed.
Aside from Palawan, the DoH also recorded 1,550 in Oriental Mindoro, 501 in Marinduque, 41 in Occidental Mindoro and 191 in Romblon or a total of 4,488 cases.
Puerto Princesa City recorded the most number of cases since January with 459 followed by Quezon with 281 cases, Sofronio Espanola with 264, Narra with 115 and 103 for Bataraza.
Records also showed the following statistics:Taytay, 94; Brooke’s Point, 92; Rizal,71; El Nido, 70;Aborlan,62; Roxas,58; Coron,47;Culion,34; San Vicente, 32; Busuanga, 23; Balabac,21; Dumaran, 4; Araceli, 2; Cuyo, 1; and Magsaysay, 1.
Three deaths were recorded in Brooke’s Point, one in Purto Princesa City, Sofronio Espanola and San Vicente.
In Puerto Princesa City, Barangay Buenavista and Cabayugan already declared a dengue outbreak.
Dr. Ricardo Panganiban, city health officer, said they are already sending teams weekly to the two barangays to conduct information and education campaigns to closely monitor the dengue cases.
“Kung may mga kailangang ipa-laboratory, ipapa-laboratory natin. Actually, kami na ang nagdadala sa kanila dito sa bayan, pini-pick up [namin],” Panganiban said.
He said the outbreak in the two barangays is caused by their failure to closely monitor the dengue cases.
“Unlike doon sa ibang mga barangay na used na sila na may case kaya aware na kaagad. Siguro ito used to have zero or low cases, so hindi nila na-ano (address) kaagad,” he said.
Panganiban also said that the CHO conducts continuous mistings and information drives to prevent dengue even without outbreaks.
“Ang activity natin tuluy-tuloy iyon hindi lang kapag may outbreak. Tuluy-tuloy po ‘yon the whole year, hindi tumitigil ‘yon. Kaya lang ito siyempre kapag nagkakaroon ng ganiyan, nagko-concentrate ‘yong grupo doon, pero ‘yong activity hindi ‘yon tumitigil the whole year,” he also said.
Romalyn Racho, health education and promotion officer of the DoH MIMAROPA, earlier said they reminded the public of its role in preventing the spread of the disease.
“Ang tingin namin ay masyado kasing mapuno ang Palawan kaya marami talagang lamok dito. Pero sa atin po kasi nasa sa atin ang paggawa, kahit anong intervention ang ginagawa ng pamahalaan ay balewala ‘yon kung tayo mismo ay hindi naman nagagawa o hindi natin alam ang role natin para maiwasan ang mga ganitong sakit,” Racho said.
The health department is currently validating reports of dengue cases in towns of Cagayancillo, Agutaya, Linapacan and Kalayaan.
