By Allen Estabillo/Philippine News Agency
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 or Soccsksargen directed local schools to implement measures to help contain the rising cases of the deadly dengue fever.
Dr. Allan Farnazo, DepEd-12 director, urged teachers and other school personnel to regularly conduct cleanup activities, especially on possible mosquito breeding places, within campuses and their surroundings.
Dubbed “Oplan Kalinisan,” the initiative was aimed to help prevent the possible spread of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in schools.
“Also, you may issue memorandum for all our children to wear long socks, pants, jogging pants or any clothing that could deter mosquito bites,” he said in a message relayed by DepEd-12 division offices on Monday.
The official cited the need for schools to observe the Department of Health’s 4-S strategy against dengue.
4-S stands for Search and destroy mosquito-breeding sites; Self-protection measures like wearing of long pants and long sleeved shirts as well as the daily use of mosquito repellent; Seek early consultation; and, Support spraying/fogging only in hotspot areas, where an increase in cases is registered for two consecutive weeks to prevent an impending outbreak.
Farnazo requested division offices and public schools to intensify the conduct of the “Dugong Guro” program, a blood-letting among public school teachers and non-teaching personnel.
He noted that South Cotabato province has already declared a state of calamity due to the dengue outbreak and other areas in the region have also reported increasing cases.
“Our region is on Code Blue status, meaning, the highest level of alert. Blood supplies are fast draining. Let us respond to this. Let our presence be felt very strongly here,” he said.
Farnazo advised them to let health personnel update their “Dugong Guro” status and “please let us intensify”.
The entire South Cotabato province was placed under state of calamity last July 19 due to the outbreak of dengue, which already reached 3,664 cases and with 21 fatalities as of July 21.
As of the third week of July, the DOH-12 already recorded a total of 10,068 dengue cases and 46 deaths in the entire region.
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