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Dengue cases in Philippines cross 188,000

August 21, 2019 00:00:00


MANILA, Aug 20 (Xinhua): The number of dengue cases in the Philippines in the first eight months of this year has surged more than 188,000 with 807 deaths, the Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines said on Tuesday.

The DOH has tallied 188,562 dengue cases from Jan. 1 to Aug. 3 this year, according to its dengue surveillance report. This number is more than double the 93,149 cases recorded in the same period last year.

Moreover, the DOH said there have been 807 deaths, which are higher than the 497 deaths recorded in the same period in 2018.

According to the DOH, the regions now under the epidemic threshold level are mostly in the central and southern parts of the Philippines.

DOH data also showed the age group mostly affected by dengue are those from five to nine years old, with 43,047 cases, or 23 percent.

"The dengue cases continue to rise," Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said, appealing to Filipinos to heighten efforts to clean up and destroy mosquito breeding sites to contain dengue.


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