BAGUIO CITY: Several barangay (villages) in the Summer Capital went on with “Denguerra (War against Dengue)” on Thursday, July 28, one day after an earthquake and despite the scare from possible aftershocks. Charles Carame, Health Services Office (HSO) Sanitary Inspection Division head, said intensive search and destroy operations were household and barangay-based, citing efforts to lessen dengue cases, and without assistance from other groups. Most agencies keen on search and destroy efforts opted to stay put after the intensity 7.0 earthquake emanating from an Abra faultline. During a management committee meeting on Tuesday morning, HSO head Dr. Rowena Galpo reported that 64 villages have clustered dengue cases, from 53 a week ago. As of July 25, there were 25 new cases and 1,257 cases with two deaths as compared with 641 the same period in 2021. Last year, however, there were 6 deaths. Galpo said there is a downtrend in dengue cases since there were 184 cases on week 26, which ended on July 2; on week 27 — 174 cases; week 28 — 157 cases; and week 29 — 117 cases. The General Services Office’ collection of used tires, which are seen to harbor mosquito breeding places, is also up to 2,420 from 43 villages. Mayor Benjamin Magalong said villages with good practices in reducing or not having dengue cases shall be honored during the city hall’s regular flag-raising ceremonies.