Tomas wants city under state of calamity over dengue cases

If Mayor Tomas Osmeña can have his way, the 80 barangays of Cebu City will be placed under a state of calamity due to the increasing number of dengue cases that already claimed the lives of 25 persons and hospitalized 975 others.

Osmeña wants that the entire city declared under state of calamity and not just barangays Poblacion Pardo and Bulacao.

Health officer Fe Cabugao said of the 80 barangays of Cebu City, 73 of them have dengue cases, although in some barangays there were only a few cases.

The barangays that have the most dengue cases are Lahug, 71; Mambaling, 64; Labangon, 63; Banawa, 47; Pardo, 41; Bulacao, 38; Apas, 33; Tisa, 29; Talamban, 28; Guadalupe, 28; Tejero, 27; Basak-Pardo, 27; Quiot, 26; Sambag 1, 26; Inayawan, 25; Punta Princesa, 24 and Sambag 2, 24.

The 25 dengue fatalities came from barangays Labangon, 5; Bulacao, 4; Pardo, 3; Luz, 2; Tejero, 2; Tisa, 2; and one death for each of the barangays Carreta, Kalunasan, Pasil, San Antonio, Sawang Calero, Sambag 2 and T. Padilla.

After Osmeña announced his plan to place the city under a state of calamity, Vice Mayor Michael Rama summoned the city health officials yesterday afternoon and informed them that the city will be declaring the city under a state of calamity during a special session of the city council today.

Once the city is under a state of calamity, City Hall officials are allowed to spend its calamity budget without complying with the strict government audit procedures.

Durenda Macasucol, assistant chief of the city’s epidemiology surveillance and statistics unit, said several activities have been lined up to stop or to minimize the rise of dengue cases.

“Ang una maghimo usa kita og fogging operations niadtong mga barangay nga daghan kaayo og mga kaso sa dengue, ilabi na niadtong mga dapit nga daghan ang namatay,” said Macasucol.

Osmeña said people should not take dengue for granted and bring any member of their family experiencing high fever to the hospital.

The mayor said he is planning to buy medical equipment that can detect if a person has been afflicted with dengue.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has lifted the outbreak announcement of the town of San Fernando as cases of dengue have already subsided.

DOH has recorded a cluster of dengue cases in the place in the past weeks with more than 56 cases already and three deaths.

DOH said cases began to cluster because of the continuous downpour of rain in the Visayas.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits dengue through its bites. These dengue-afflicted mosquitoes proliferate because they can multiply in stagnant water that can be found anywhere.

Those persons afflicted with dengue fever disease will first experience fever, severe headache, joint pains, weakness and skin rashes.  It will be dangerous for the blood to become sticky because it can no longer circulate to the brain.  – Rene U. Borromeo and Jasmin R. Uy/BRP