The Philippines recorded 188,562 dengue cases from January 1 to August 3, doubling the 93,149 cases in the same period last year. The eight-month number of death also almost doubled the 497 deaths reported the same period last year.
Most of people affected are those between five to nine years old, making up 23 percent or 43,047 of the cases. The central and southern regions of the country are now epidemic zones for dengue.
The dengue cases continue to rise, said Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo, warning the case will likely to rise until October because of the rainy season. He called the people to heighten efforts to clean up and destroy mosquito breeding sites to contain dengue.
The Philippines declared dengue outbreak to be national epidemic on August 6 to improve the response to the outbreak by allowing local governments to draw on a special quick response fund.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold over the last 50 years.
