There has been a 25-percent increase in dengue cases in Metro Manila since the onset of the rainy season this year, an official said Tuesday.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo told dzMM radio they had listed more than 7,200 cases in Metro Manila during the period.
That compares with the 5,800 dengue cases recorded in the area in the same period last year.
Domingo said there was also an 80- and 66-percent increase in dengue cases in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions, respectively.
He said other regions including Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao had also registered spikes in dengue cases.
“The peak season for dengue is beginning because there is a lot of water around that are breeding places [for mosquitoes],” Domingo said, but he assured the public that his department was prepared to attend to the patients’ needs.
“We have equipment because we have already prepared for it. We have tools for testing that are readily available not just in the hospital but also in the centers,” Domingo said.
The Health department earlier declared a dengue outbreak in Itbayat, Batanes, where a child diagnosed with the disease died on Friday.