Despite the apparent of dengue cases in the country, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III exhorted the public not to be too complacent.
“While the steady decline in dengue cases is indeed a very welcome development, let us not be complacent. We need to continually address the root causes of dengue and practice preventive measures all-year-round," said Duque.
"I urge everyone to remain vigilant, and sustain the gains of the enhanced 4S strategy to keep dengue at bay,” he added.
Duque said the Dengue Surveillance Reports for Jan. 17, 2020 showed only one region exceeded the alert threshold and another exceeded the epidemic threshold.
In the past three months, a steady decline in dengue cases was observed in all regions.
The report also indicated that for Dec. 22-31, 2019, there were only 815 dengue cases, which is 87 percent lower compared to the 6,125 cases reported over the same period in 2018.
On Aug. 6, 2019, DOH declared a national dengue epidemic when the recorded cases from January to July 2019 reached 146,062 (almost twice the number of cases recorded in the same period of 2018).
At the time, out of 17 regions, seven exceeded the epidemic threshold, while three exceeded the alert threshold for dengue.
As part of its response, DOH, with other government agencies, LGUs, schools, offices, and communities launched the “Sabayang 4 O’clock Habit paraDeng-Get Out’’ campaign, focusing on searching and destroying mosquito breeding sites.
“The success of the Sabayang 4 O’clock Habit paraDeng-Get Out campaign is attributed to its whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach," said Duque.
“It is through the concerted efforts of government agencies, our private sector and civil society organizations, development partners, schools, communities, and every Filipino that we were able to successfully address the dengue outbreak,” he added.
DOH continues to encourage the public to search and destroy mosquito-breeding sites, employ self-protection measures, seek early consultation, and support fogging/spraying only in hotspot areas where an increase in cases is registered for two consecutive weeks to prevent an impending outbreak.
