Dengue cases may be on a decline in Quezon City, but the local government is not letting its guard down considering that the virus is a year-round concern.
The city’s 142 barangays recently launched a synchronized clean-up drive to beef up local dengue prevention efforts.
Barangay Operations Center chief Jorge Felipe has recommended the strict enforcement of all environmental sanitation laws and regulations related to garbage disposal in order to remove all possible breeding grounds of mosquitoes.
City Mayor Herbert Bautista earlier renewed his call for residents to do their share by cleaning their respective surroundings.
“Dengue prevention and control is a community effort. And, it is imperative that we must do our own contribution as part of the community,” he said.
From January 1 to September 24, the epidemiology and surveillance unit of the City Health Department reported about 2,715 dengue cases, with 11 deaths.
The number of cases was 37.7 percent lower compared to last year’s figure for the same period.
Barangays that registered the most number of dengue cases are Commonwealth, Holy Spirit, Batasan Hills, Payatas and Fairview.
Earlier, the Department of Health has declared the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which brings the triple threat of dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses, as its Public Enemy Number 1.
“Our campaign for dengue, chikungunya and Zika is only one: against the mosquito that is capable of transmitting these diseases,” DoH spokesman Dr. Eric Tayag said.
Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the department has recorded the first Zika case in Metro Manila involving a resident from Antipolo.
“We now have a total of 15 confirmed cases of Zika virus out of 264 suspected cases reported nationwide from Jan. 1 to Oct. 4, 2016,” she said.
A 22-year-old woman from Cebu province, who is 19 weeks pregnant with her first child, is among the positive Zika cases recorded.
The health secretary noted that all the cases acquired the virus through mosquito bites but did not have a history of travel to an affected country a month before the onset of the illness.
Tayag said more than 146,000 cases of dengue fever have been reported from Jan. 1 to Sept. 24 this year, which is 11.5 percent higher than last year’s figure.
On the other hand, at least 3,473 suspected cases of chikungunya across the country have been recorded for the same period.
Ubial renewed her call to the public to practice the “4S” campaign—Search and destroy; use Self-protection measures; Seek early consultation for fevers lasting more than two days; and Say yes to fogging when there is an impending outbreak.
“This is a global concern. While we do not want the people to panic, we should not be complacent also about it at the same time,” she said.