By Lynroe Francisco
The reported number of dengue cases in the Philippines has increased by 83% with 65,190 cases reported from January 1 to July 2, compared to the 35,715 during the same period last year.
For this year, Region III has the most reported numbers with 9,448 cases (14%), followed by Region VII with 7,771 (12%), and Region IX with 5,708 (9%).
From June 5 to July 2 when 16,324 cases were counted, Region III had the highest number of cases with a total of 3,196 (20%) cases, followed by Metro Manila with 1,729 (11%), and Region VII with 1,703 (10%).
There were 13 out of 17 regions in the Philippines including Region III, Mimaropa, Region V, Region VI, Region IX, Region XI, Region XII, Bangsamoro Region, and Cordillera Region that showed a sustained increase in dengue fever in the past four weeks.
Meanwhile, there were 274 total deaths reported or a case fatality rate of 0.4% nationally, with 36 deaths in the month of January, 32 in February, 39 in March, 46 in April, 63 in May, and 58 in June. – ag