By Tara Yap
Iloilo City — The small island province of Guimaras has become the second province in Western Visayas to be hit with an outbreak of the deadly dengue disease.
Guimaras (Wikipedia / MANILA BULLETIN)
This, as Governor Samuel Gumarin signed Executive Order (EO) No. 36 following the rise in the number of dengue cases beyond the epidemic threshold.
Figures from the Provincial Health Office said that 493 dengue cases—with two resulting in deaths--have been recorded in the island’s five towns from January 1 to July 6, 2019.
Jordan, Guimaras’s capital town, had the highest number of dengue cases with 153 while the town of Buenavista had 109 cases.
There are also 93 cases in Nueva Valencia town, 72 cases in Sibunag town, and 66 cases in San Lorenzo town.
Also recorded were 21 barangays (villages) that have clustered dengue cases, where there are three or more people afflicted with the mosquito-borne disease.
Over here in the province of Iloilo, Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. has asked private hospitals in Iloilo City to accommodate dengue-stricken patients from the 42 towns and component city of Passi.
Government hospitals in the province are reportedly overflowing with patients, with some forced to stay along corridors.
The latest data shows there are a total of 5,435 dengue cases in Iloilo province, with 20 deaths. One of the casualties was the 10-year-old child of former mayor Jose “Jojo” De Paula of Janiuay town.