• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental has recorded 10 deaths while highly-urbanized Bacolod City logged three fatalities related to dengue from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, according to the Department of Health-Western Visayas on Tuesday (Sept. 10).
Among the provinces and highly-urbanized cities, Iloilo province has the highest number of cases, with 8,039 cases and 23 deaths, followed by Negros Occidental, with 3,296 cases and 10 deaths, records showed.
Dengue cases all over Western Visayas were recorded at 20, 814, an increase by 264 percent, with 51 deaths, compared to 5,711 cases, with 25 deaths for the same period in 2023.
As of Aug. 24, the Bacolod City Health Office logged 875 cases, showing an increase of 139.7 percent, compared to 380 cases in the same period last year.
Amid the increasing cases, Dr. Bea Camille Natalaray, DOH-6 program medical coordinator for emerging and re-emerging infectious disease cluster, said that they have monitored the utilization rate in hospitals in the region for the past few weeks to be between 70 and 72 percent for all admissions.
“We anticipate that since our dengue cases increased in the previous weeks, we have already distributed our advisory for our hospitals for the management of surge capacity,” she said, adding that not all dengue patients need to be admitted.
“As long as we consult early and our patients are classified as without warning signs, they can be managed as outpatient cases. It is important that they are assessed by the doctor and the monitoring is done daily,” Natalaray said.
Some 998 barangays in the region have clustering of cases, and there are 21 hotspot barangays.
“We continue to remind our community to practice our 4S strategy – Search and destroy, Self-protection measures, Seek Consultation, and Support fogging activities, especially in hotspot areas,” Natalaray said. | GB with reports from PNA
