DOH: Dengue cases drop by a third

IMAGE Daniella Marie Agacer

Dengue cases nationwide have been on a downtrend since the start of the year, with the steepest drop by nearly a third, based on the latest data from the Department of Health (DOH).

Confirmed infections of the vector-borne illness from Jan. 1 to Jan. 13 stood at 8,368. This slid by 11 percent to 7,434 in the following week, from Jan. 14 to Jan. 27.

The numbers further dipped to 5,267 from Jan. 28 to Feb. 10, a 29-percent decrease from the previous two-week period.

A total of 67 deaths were reported in the country from Jan. 1 to Feb. 10, or a case fatality rate of 0.32 percent for the period.

The DOH, however, was quick to warn the public that the current transmission trends may change “due to potential delayed consultations and reporting.”

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Northern Mindanao and Caraga were the only regions that exhibited a slight increase in dengue cases in the past month, DOH noted.

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In Metro Manila, the incidence of dengue is “below the alert threshold,” with cases at a decline by 9 percent from Jan. 1 to Feb. 24 compared to the same period last year, based on the data from DOH’s Center for Health Development in the capital region.

“No city or municipality in NCR (National Capital Region) has reached the epidemic threshold for this week,” DOH-NCR said.

The case count, it added, translates to a case fatality rate of 0.13 percent, it noted.

Many of the cases belonged to the younger segment of the population, with 28 percent of them children aged 5 to 9, it added. —KATHLEEN DE VILLA