ILOILO CITY – The city government has declared a state of calamity following a pertussis or whooping cough outbreak here.
The Iloilo City Council approved the recommendation of the Iloilo Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (Iloilo CDRRMC) to declare a state of calamity.
The declaration seeks to “intensify prevention, early detection, isolation, treatment, reintegration, and timely, appropriate, and high-quality outbreak response for pertussis to prevent and control its transmission.”
The declaration of the state of calamity enables the city government to start utilizing the P16-million fund to curb the spread of the contagious respiratory disease.
The biggest chunk of the budget, P14 million, was allocated for the procurement of medicines. An allocation of P2 million and P500,000 have been earmarked for the purchase of testing kits and masks and disinfectants, respectively.
The city government has appropriated P300,000 for the training of molecular laboratory staff at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City to enable testing to be conducted in this city instead of Metro Manila.
Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, assistant department head of the City Health Office (ICHO), said they have recorded 16 pertussis cases, mostly toddlers or children aged one to three.