MAYOR Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio asked all Davaoeños to join the city-wide cleanup drive today against the spread of dengue throughout communities at 4 p.m., when the virus-carrying mosquitoes come out to feed.
Duterte-Carpio told the reporters on Wednesday after the inauguration of Public Safety Command Center that there is a need to clean the surroundings and identify the breeding areas in order to mitigate the growing dengue cases.
“We can do something about it. Let us all clean and fight against dengue,” Duterte-Carpio said, adding that she has issued a memorandum order authorizing the barangay officials and government employees to participate in the clean up drive.
Duterte-Carpio said the government employees are required to go to their respective households after lunch break.
The massive cleanup drive was prompted by the surge of dengue cases in the first six months of this year. In a record from the City Health Office, there were already 1,842 dengue cases with 23 deaths between January and June this year against the 1,674 dengue cases and 18 deaths recorded during the same period last year.
Among the 182 barangays in the city, the top five hotspots are Buhangin with 306 cases, Talomo North with 211 cases, Talomo South with 201 cases, Agdao with 110 cases and Toril with 90 cases.

The cleanup drive would start today at 4 pm as it was believed that it is the time when more mosquitoes appear.
“There is a need that all should join the activity. It is because there is a need at one time to destroy the breeding places in order to avert adult mosquitoes,” City Health Officer Josephine Villafuerte told the Times in a text message.
Villafuerte said it is the best preventive measure to end the life cycle of the mosquitoes. When the population of the mosquitoes would decrease, she said there might be also a decrease on the number of adult mosquitoes.
She said the cleanup drive is also being done to avert other mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.