Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Thursday, January 18, lifted the diarrhea outbreak declaration throughout the city.
In a press conference live-streamed via Baguio City Public Information Office, Magalong declared that waters from the Baguio water district are now "safe" after intensive testings.
"I can confidently say na lahat nung test na ginawa natin sa water supplied by the water district, it is totally, completely, and absolutely safe," he said.
"In short, you can now drink directly from the faucet. Gano'n ka-potable ang water natin, gano'n kalinis. There's no water contamination in so far water supply," the Baguio City mayor added.
Magalong, however, cautioned his constituents to avoid drinking from unfiltered water.
"As long as it doesn't pass go or through or intermidiate storage. Ibigsabihin, from the filtration system hanggang sa distribution line hanggang sa faucet, pwede ninyong inumin iyan, malinis iyan. Basta baguio water district. [Pero] kapag may tangke na dinadaanan, kailangan talaga nang filtration," he said.
The Baguio City mayor said the city is "now officially out of the woods" and is transitioning "to the endemic phase where diarrhea cases are back to normal rate."
City Health Services Officer Ceila Flor Brillantes also declared that the outbreak officially ended.
"Since we have a past two incubation periods of our cases significantly going down and that there are no clustered cases from the peak of outbreak from January 7 to 8, and we have already also identified water sources, then really, the outbreak is over," she said.
According to Donabel Panes from Baguio City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, a downward trend of cases was observed since January 8.
"So comparing the past recent seven days to the past seven days two weeks ago, we saw a 80 percent decrease of cases. From 1,620 to 300 cases in the past seven days," she added.
On January 10, Magalong declared an acute gastroenteritis outbreak in the city after recording 1,602 cases.
Baguio Epidemiology Bureau said that water contamination in various water sources caused the outbreak of diarrhea cases in the city.
