The Department of Health (DOH)-Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon area) is under code blue alert against pertussis.

It has activated the Incident Management Team (IMT) to augment the needs of local health offices.
Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Health (RDRRM-H) officer-in-charge Joel Francisco urged local health offices to actively report suspected and confirmed cases of pertussis within 24 hours to prevent further spread.
“We highly encourage local health personnel to co-locate because one of our findings upon institutionalizing local government units in terms of DRRM-H (disaster risk reduction and management in health) is that they are located within the operations center,” Francisco said.
“We want reporting to be on time, and as much as possible, instances where individuals experience symptoms should be reported within 24 hours to prevent the disease from spreading.”
Citing the country’s experience during the pandemic, the DOH-Calabarzon and its local counterparts will adopt the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Test-Reintegrate (PDITR) strategy on top of other infection prevention control measures.
The agency reminded health facilities to implement infection prevention control protocols such as proper disposal of infectious wastes.
“Infection prevention and control, as well as physical distancing inside health facilities, are very important. The public is also encouraged to wear face masks to prevent infection, especially in large gatherings.”
In a code blue alert, local government units and health facilities are expected to provide surveillance reports on pertussis cases to the Incident Command Systems to facilitate timely updates and data analysis.