GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Local health authorities have allayed fears of a possible outbreak of dengue amid the rising cases of the dreaded disease here.
City health Officer Lalaine Calonzo stressed that there was no basis for the declaration of an outbreak despite the 501 percent increase of dengue cases to 960 cases from January to May this year compared to the same period last year with 160.
She said that of the 962 dengue cases, 331 were considered probable while 631 were diagnosed to be suspected since there was no confirmatory test conducted to determine the presence of the disease.
Calonzo said that the Department of Health can only declare a dengue outbreak if the number of fatalities in a particular area had reached at least one percent. This city only had a 0.6 percent fatality rate.
“There was no cause for alarm on a possible dengue outbreak,” Calonzo said.
The city health officer said the rise in the number of dengue cases here can be attributed to the intensified rapid dengue testing conducted by city health personnel.