Dengue cases in Philippines down 48 pct in H1

MANILA: JULY 1 – The number of dengue cases recorded from January to June this year has declined 48 percent compared with the same period last year, the Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) said on Thursday.

Ailene Espiritu of the DOH’s Disease Prevention and Control Bureau said the health agency recorded 27,930 dengue cases in the past six months this year.

As of June 5, 104 people have died from dengue, less than 183 recorded in the same period last year, Espiritu said.

“People stayed indoor and strictly observed water and sanitation hygiene,” Espiritu said in a televised press conference when explaining the reason for the huge decline in dengue cases and deaths.

Since mid-March last year, the Philippines has been on varying levels of COVID-19 lockdown because of the pandemic, forcing people to stay at home.

The Philippines declared a “national dengue epidemic” in August 2019 due to a surge of deaths from the mosquito-borne disease.

As a water-borne infectious disease, Dengue can cause joint pain, nausea, vomiting, rashes and breathing problems, hemorrhaging, and organ failure in severe cases.

-XINHUA