METRO Manila is again a dengue hot spot even as the dengue cases nationwide hit almost 71,000 in the first six months of the year, the Department of Health said Wednesday.
That happened after Longos village in Malabon, Novaliches, Fairview and Payatas in Quezon City reported a surge in dengue cases.
The department said 47 barangays nationwide were also dengue hot spots following its monitoring of dengue cases for the period Jan. 1 to July 23 this year.
It said dengue cases occurred the most in Barangay Fatima (General Santos City), Santa Cruz and Santo Niño (Koronadal City), Lake Sebuh in Poblacion (Norala), Centrala, Colongulo and Lamian (Surallah), Almonan, Bulao, Palisin, Poblacion and Tubeng in South Cotabato.
Benguet also posted a high incidence of dengue cases in Barangays Bakakeng Central, Camp 7, Irisan, Kias, Santo Tomas proper and Trancoville (Baguio City), and Barangays Alapang, Pico and Poblacion (La Trinidad).
Health Secretary Eric Tayag said the National Capital Region was included in the list of regions with an increasing number of dengue cases in the past four weeks.
He said 70,697 dengue cases were reported during the first half of the year, or 19 percent more than the number of cases recorded in the same period in 2015.
“If you look at the trends by week, it is still under the alert threshold based on our three-year average, but compared to last year the cases have already increased by 19 percent,” Tayag said.
He called on the hospitals in the barangays considered as dengue hot spots to reactivate their express lanes to hasten the admission of suspected and confirmed cases.
The Health department launched its anti-dengue vaccination program in April and covered more than 700,000 Grade 4 students in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.