CEBU CITY, Philippines — The dengue cases in Cebu City have significantly dropped from January to May 2021 as compared to the same period in 2020.
The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) revealed that in the first five months of 2021, only 35 cases were recorded as compared to the 554 recorded in the same period in 2020.
The CHD noted that the first five months of 2020 were just the beginning of the pandemic while the pandemic is already in its second wave in the city in 2021.
To compare, January 2020 recorded 300 dengue cases while January 2021 only recorded 16 cases. February 2020 recorded 211 dengue cases as compared to February 2021, which only recorded 2 cases.
The massive drop of the dengue cases has been attributed to many factors including the pandemic.
“Usa sad na nga atoang natan-aw nga maoy hinungdan nganong gamay ra ang atoang kaso possibly kay pandemic man nya naa ra sa balay kasagaran,” said Doctor Jeffrey Ibones, the city health officer-in-charge.
(One factor that we considered of the drop in dengue cases is possibly the pandemic because most people were staying in their homes.)
In total, the city recorded 1,081 cases of dengue in 2020, which is significantly lower than the previous year (2019) which reached more than 2,000.
The deaths attributed to dengue in 2020 reached 14, with the fatal cases distributed among various barangays. Barangay Lahug had the most deaths in 2020 with at least three out of its total 44 dengue cases.
So far in 2021, the dengue deaths have only been two from Barangays Cogon Pardo and T. Padilla.
In 2020, the top barangays with the most number of dengue cases were Barangay Guadalupe with 76 cases, followed by Barangay Talamban at 60 cases, then Barangay Tisa at 58 cases, Barangay Labangon at 57 cases, Barangay Lahug at 44 cases, Barangay Punta at 32 cases, Barangay Apas at 28 cases, and Barangay Capitol Site at 20 cases.
For the barangay with most cases as compared to population, the CHD noticed a surge of dengue cases in Barangay Adlaon with 15 cases out of its at least a thousand population.
In 2021, the CHD has yet to identify the top barangays since the cases were distributed to many villages.
Although the CHD has no consolidated records yet of the demographics of the dengue deaths and cases in 2020 and 2021, Ibones noted that the most vulnerable to dengue were still children.
As the rainy season approaches, Ibones encouraged households to ensure that there is no stagnant water around the house and that canals and waterways are clean so that dengue-carrying mosquitoes have no place to breed.
“Ang importante gyud kaayo, ang pagpanglimpyo gyud sa palibot. Importante gyud kaayo tang manglimpyo kay mabantayan man nato tong mga butang nato nga naay posibilidad nga adto didto ang dengue nato magpuyo labi na kanang mga tubigan nga mga sama sa balde nga naay tubig, tabunan gyud nato, ligid nga naay sud tubig atoa gyud nang iyabo.” he said.
(What is most important is to have clean surroundings. This is important because when we clean we can notice things that are possible breeding places of the dengue mosquito especially those areas with water like a pail with water. We should cover that. We should not let dispose of the water inside tires.)
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