(Eagle News) — The Department of Health has expanded the areas covered by its measles outbreak declaration on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Apart from Metro Manila, the declaration now covers Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and Bicol Region.
“We are expanding the outbreak (declaration) as cases have increased in the past weeks…,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 7.
According to the DOH, from Jan. 1 to 19, 575 measles cases have already been reported in CALABARZON, with nine deaths.
Sixty-four cases and two deaths were recorded in Ilocos Region in the same period; 192 cases and four deaths in Central Luzon; and 70 cases and zero deaths in MIMAROPA.
Duque also urged the public and mothers in general to “bring (their) children at the first sign of fever to the nearest facility for proper treatment and case management,” and urged them to separate the Dengvaxia issue from the issue at hand.
For this Duque noted that the other DOH-provided vaccines, including the vaccine against measles, were “safe, effective, and in accordance with the standards of the (Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization).”
The DOH earlier noted a decrease in the number of people taking part in the the government’s vaccination programs, following the Dengvaxia controversy.
“Wag na tayo mag-alinlangan. Wag na tayo magdalawang isip. Kung hindi po, sa bandang huli ang pagsisisi. Asa inyong kamay naman po ang (buhay ng inyong mga anak) bakit natin ipagkakait dahil lamang sa kontrobersiya ng Dengvaxia,” Duque said.
Earlier, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said Duque himself made the declaration of the outbreak in Metro Manila after seeing the number of suspected measles cases there.
As of Feb. 2, Domingo said there were 861 suspected cases of measles in the NCR, a number that was “quite high.”
From Jan. 1 to 19, the DOH said the confirmed measles cases in the NCR were 441, with five deaths.
“One of the factors ay ang low coverage of measles vaccination so teams are now going around in these cities to do outbreak management,” Domingo had said.
