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CEBU CITY, Philippines — Although he already said he may declare the rising cases of dengue a public health emergency, Cebu City acting mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said he still needs more data before doing so.
Garcia admitted that he was “really thinking of declaring a state of public health emergency” but also said his office needs to collect more data on the dengue cases given that the latest information he got was the data last Sept. 6 with eight confirmed deaths and 597 cases.
“We still have to find if there is really a trend and if the number of cases is rising or maybe it’s slowly going down. But I’m monitoring closely the situation. For now, it is still not time to declare not unless we have the complete data,” Garcia said.
In case he would declare a public health emergency, he said the City Government would be looking closely at the issue as it is “tantamount already to calling it an outbreak.”
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Garcia said precautionary measures are needed to fight against the outbreak, to which the Cebu City Health Department (CHD) is already exercising.
Garcia also noted that there are already more patients at the Cebu City Medical Center that have “dengue-like symptoms” but he said they could not tell if it is because of dengue since the cases are still subject for confirmation.
Higher number of dengue cases
Dr. Daisy Villa, head of CHD, said last week that the total number of confirmed dengue cases this year is significantly higher than the 27 confirmed cases during the same period last year.
In 2023, there were no recorded dengue deaths, Villa said.
This rise in cases has led health officials to ramp up public health campaigns and cleanup efforts, urging residents to eliminate possible mosquito breeding sites and to seek early medical consultation.
In Bohol, Governor Erico Aris Aumentado declared last week a dengue outbreak in the entire province after Bohol recorded over 5,000 dengue cases, with 14 deaths from January 1 to August 24, 2024.