By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Bacolod City Health Office (CHO) released new records this week that showed a 106.1 percent increase in the number of dengue fever cases in the city.
Based on the CHO’s recent morbidity week, a weekly report documenting issues related to various diseases, from January 1 to August 17, they recorded 1,325 dengue fever cases with six fatalities, which is up from the 638 cases with five fatalities recorded during the same period last year.
Most of the city’s dengue cases have been recorded in Barangay Estefania, which currently tallies 162; followed by Barangay Tangub with 107.
CHO Environment and Sanitation Division head, Dr. Grace Tan, warned, if communities continue to ignore their surroundings, there is a big possibility the number of cases in the city will continue to rise.
Tan appealed for the public to observe the “4 o’clock habit” and encouraged everyone to clean their surroundings at 4:00 p.m. in an effort to prevent mosquito breeding places as a means of combating the spread of dengue fever.
The city earlier appropriated P17.8 million to be utilized by the CHO to prevent the spread of dengue fever./DGB, WDJ