Dengue cases in Quezon City projected to rise until April 2025

Quezon City continues to battle a surge in dengue cases, with local government officials projecting Thursday that the numbers will keep rising until the summer month of April.

In an ambush interview, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte reported a 283% rise in cases compared to the same period last year.

As of Thursday, February 27, the total number of dengue cases in Quezon City was placed at 2,779.

"This is 283% higher than the numbers that we had [at] this same time last year. So these numbers are still going up. Our projections are that tataas pa rin ang mga bilang ng dengue patients natin hanggang April. Tingin natin by April mag-plateau na at saka pa lang bababa (Our projections are that the number of dengue patients will keep rising until April. These will likely plateau and only then will they start to drop)," Belmonte said.

In a press conference declaring a dengue outbreak in the city on February 15, local officials said the year-on-year rise in cases was nearly 200%. Eight of the 10 reported fatalities at the time were minors.

Since then, one new death has been logged, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11.

Despite this, the mayor said the number of deaths in the city remains relatively low, with the fatality rate below 1%.

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"Nagkaroon ng 10 noong nag-announce tayo ng outbreak (We had 10 cases when we announced the outbreak). And we only just had one additional one after that,” she said.

In response to the outbreak, the Quezon City government has kept health centers open on weekends and launched a "fever lane" at medical facilities to quickly attend to patients exhibiting symptoms.

Health centers in the city have seen an increase in patients, with the Department of Health (DOH) replenishing testing supplies to ensure continued testing.

"'Yung mga essential needs for misting and all of that, the city has provided for them. So tuloy-tuloy lang (The essential needs for misting and all that, the city has provided for them. So we are continuing to deliver services). And of course, we are monitoring our barangays to make sure that they are really complying with the 4 o'clock habit, which was launched by the DOH," Belmonte said.

READ: DOH to launch nationwide dengue prevention drive on February 24

Amid the rising cases, Belmonte reported that more residents have become increasingly aware of the dengue situation and have sought treatment sooner.

Quezon City is also working closely with barangays to ensure proper mosquito control, including regular fogging and misting efforts. The city is also collaborating with schools and parents to spread awareness, underscoring a "whole of city approach" to combat the outbreak.

So far, only Quezon City has declared a dengue outbreak, with eight more areas expected to announce the same.

The DOH said Friday it was observing a "slowdown" in the trend of dengue cases recorded over the past four weeks nationwide. The cases dipped by 5% from 15,904 infections on January 5 to 18, to 15,134 cases on January 19 to February 15.

Since the year started up to February 15, the DOH logged a total of 43,732 cases all over the country —56% higher than the 27,995 infections in the same period in 2024.

The case fatality rate, however, remained low at 0.38%. — VDV, GMA Integrated News