THE Lapu-Lapu City Health Office has intensified its clean-up drives and misting in the top 10 barangays with the biggest number of dengue cases in the city, as they had accounted for 67 percent of the city’s cases so far, an official said Monday, June 13, 2022.City Health Officer Dr. Agnes Cecile Realiza told SunStar Cebu that of the city’s 30 barangays, topping the list with the most number of cases from January to June 10 this year was Barangay Basak, which had 135 cases and two deaths.It was followed by Mactan with 79 dengue cases.Both Bangkal and Gun-ob recorded 57 dengue cases each; however, the latter also logged three deaths.The remaining barangays in the top 10 were Pusok with 55 cases and one death, Canjulao (53 with one death), Pajo (43 with one death), Calawisan (41 with one death), Pajac (38), and Buaya (37 with one death).Realiza said the city had 20 active dengue cases as of June 12, all of whom were admitted to the hospitals.The city health officer said the city had a total of 890 dengue cases with seven deaths as of June 4 this year.Central Visayas was among the 10 regions in the country that had shown an increase in dengue cases from last year, according to the report of the Department of Health (DOH) on June 10.The region logged 4,544 or 13 percent of the 34,938 dengue cases in the country, the highest among the 17 regions from Jan. 1 to May 21 this year.DOH-Central Visayas earlier said majority of the cases in the region were reported in the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Cebu, Talisay and the Municipality of Minglanilla.Realiza, however, said they observed a decrease in the number of dengue cases in the city in the last three weeks after cases peaked in April based on their weekly monitoring.Despite that, she said they are intensifying their clean-up drives and focused on the above-mentioned barangays, citing dengue as endemic in Lapu-Lapu City.“We have to go on because dengue never goes away in Lapu-Lapu. There are just times when cases go up, and other times when the levels are manageable,” she said in Cebuano.Breeding sitesBased on their investigation, daily wastes, fallen branches of trees brought by the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (Rai) in December last year, and other materials or containers where water is stored, and ponds (lim-aw), were among the causes of the breeding of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in the interior portions of the barangays.She reminded the public to always clean their residences and practice the Enhanced 4-S campaign, which stands for Search and destroy mosquito-breeding sites, secure Self-protection measures like wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts and daily use of mosquito repellent, Seek early consultation, and Say yes to misting in hotspot areas.Realiza reminded the public to treat the first day of fever as dengue and immediately seek consultation before it is too late.The city health officer also urged residents to immediately report fevers in the community.She, however, said they are currently doing misting instead of fogging as the latter is not yet practical.“We don’t do much fogging because that may be dangerous to the health, and there is also a technique required to make fogging effective,” she explained.Better than repellentTo curb dengue cases in the city, Realiza said they will hold a caravan on Wednesday, June 15, during which they will go to the interior portions of the barangays or sitios for an information drive.At the Hoops Dome on the same day, they will also conduct tutorials for barangay officials and health workers on making chemical solutions. The officials can later on teach their constituents.Realiza said the chemical solution, which will be used by the homeowners for misting at least once a week for four consecutive weeks, is better than buying insect repellents, which are expensive.Cebu CityIn Cebu City, the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) has urged vulcanizing shop owners to properly store their unused tires so that these don’t hold water that could become a breeding site for mosquitoes.CCHD head Dr. Jeffrey Ibones said Monday, that they have noticed that mosquitoes tend to lay their eggs in stagnant water in tires left outside the vulcanizing shops.“One of the things we’ve seen with dengue is the tires. So we’ll request the vulcanizing shops if ever they have tires outside, because at night it rains and the tires are not stored,” said Ibones in Cebuano.He added that barangay officials should conduct monitoring and include this in their search and destroy operations of possible mosquito breeding sites.The city health official also reiterated its call to residents to assist the government in conducting clean-up drives in their surroundings.According to Ibones, anti-dengue misting and curtain impregnation will continue across all barangays in the city to prevent the spread of the disease.Ibones also said the battle against dengue is now at a multi-sectoral level as Mayor Michael Rama has included businesses, non-government organizations, and even the Philippine National Police in their convergence meetings.Business establishments in the city were ordered by the city government to also conduct search and destroy operations within their premises, he said.Ibones said mosquitoes can also lay their eggs in air-conditioning units and flower vases.From January to June 10, 2022, the recorded dengue cases in the city have already reached 1,033, while 17 individuals have died from the disease.