ILOILO CITY?Horns and sirens will blare all over Iloilo province on Wednesday to mark a massive cleanup drive against breeding places of dengue fever-carrying mosquitoes.

Government employees, students, police personnel and other civic-minded citizens in 42 towns and one city of the province and this city will join the cleanup drive from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, dubbed ?People Power Do Day Against Dengue,? provincial administrator Raul Banias said on Monday.

The campaign, to be led by Gov. Arthur Defensor and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, is among the measures to contain the spread of dengue fever which has reached epidemic levels in some areas.

Teams will clean designated areas, especially those with water accumulation which are possible breeding areas of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of the severe flu-like illness. The disease, which has no known cure and is potentially fatal, is mostly found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.

Iloilo, along with the provinces of Capiz and Guimaras, had earlier been placed under a state of calamity due to the continued increase of dengue cases.

As of Aug, 24, the number of cases in Iloilo has reached 2,793, with 16 deaths.

Banias said the governor has directed the 12 hospitals in the province to admit poor patients free of charge, including processing fees of laboratory tests.

The provincial government also released funds to increase medical and other supplies and for the emergency hiring of medical technicians and other personnel. Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas