Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. has ordered the Talisay City Health Office to reassign some health personnel at the city’s Covid-19 vaccination centers to the barangays to help with dengue prevention activities.Talisay City has recorded a 535 percent increase in the number of dengue cases so far this year compared to the same period last year.From January 1 to June 4, 2022, at least 254 cases with three deaths were recorded by health officials in Talisay. There were only 40 cases and no death in the same period last year.To help prevent dengue cases, some health personnel assigned at the vaccination centers in Talisay will be pulled out to conduct information dissemination and misting operations in areas that have possible breeding sites.“We have done what we can. We have unloaded vaccination centers of half of their workload. We reduced by half the number of their personnel so they can concentrate on misting and the dengue problem in the city,” Gullas added.Misting operations have started and other precautionary measures are in place in the 22 barangays after its dengue cases started to increase since early this year.Dr. Lino Alanzado, head of the Talisay City Health Office, told reporters that from June 1 to 16, they already monitored at least 20 dengue cases and one confirmed death.Earlier, officials of the Department of Health (DOH) in Central Visayas reported that a large number of dengue cases and deaths in the region were recorded in the cities of Talisay City, Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and the municipality of Minglanilla.Alanzado said the latest fatality, a seven-year-old girl, succumbed to dengue fever after being admitted at the Cebu South Medical Center (formerly the Talisay District Hospital) on June 8.The girl was the second fatality that the city recorded since January this year, Alanzado added.Fearing that the dengue situation could worsen, Alanzado urged their constituents to practice precautionary measures as a way to protect themselves and their children from dengue.This includes cleaning their surroundings regularly and removing possible breeding sites of mosquitoes, Alanzado added.In Mandaue City, officials have intensified the campaign on dengue prevention after recording a significant increase in the number of dengue cases.Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes expressed his worry about the increasing number of dengue cases and urged the people to do their part in preventing dengue.In an interview on Friday, June 17, 2022, he encouraged the people to cooperate, saying the dengue situation should be addressed not only by the government but by the whole community.Cortes said they already activated the dengue brigades in all barangays to monitor the cases in the sitios.Data from the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) Region 7 showed that from May 21 to June 11, at least 102 new cases and 1 death have been added to the city’s list of dengue cases, with the city now having a total of 365 cases and 3 deaths so far this year.This is a lot higher compared to the numbers recorded on May 21, when Mandaue had 263 cases and 2 deaths, ranking third among the cities in Central Visayas with the highest number of dengue cases.In a separate interview also on Friday, Dr. Ligaya Lakambini Dargantes, the city’s Emergency Operations Center deputy chief, urged those people experiencing dengue symptoms to have themselves checked as the city health’s consultation and laboratory tests for dengue, such as a complete blood count, are free.Some of the common dengue symptoms include fever, rash and body aches. (BBT / JKV / HIC)