Children with measles are treated as their parents accompanied them along a hallway inside the pediatric ward of the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, the Philippines, Feb. 7, 2019. More measles cases are being detected in and outside Metro Manila, prompting the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) to expand the declaration of a measles outbreak in several provinces in the Philippine main Luzon island and in the Visayas region in the central Philippines. The announcement came a day after the DOH officially declared a measles outbreak on Wednesday in Metro Manila after it has noted a sharp increase in the number of measles cases. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

MANILA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- More measles cases are being detected in and outside Metro Manila, prompting the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) to expand the declaration of a measles outbreak in several provinces in the Philippine main Luzon island and in the Visayas region in the central Philippines.

The announcement came a day after the DOH officially declared a measles outbreak in Metro Manila, also called the National Capital Region (NCR), after it has noted a sharp increase in the number of measles cases.

"We are expanding the (declaration of the) outbreak from Metro Manila to the other regions as cases have increased in the past weeks," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on Thursday.

Duque ordered health officers to strengthen surveillance of new cases and alert mothers and caregivers to be more vigilant.

As of Jan. 26, the DOH Epidemiology Bureau reported that the number of measles cases in other regions, including in the Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley province, in Central Luzon, Calabarzon region, Mimaropa region, and the Bicol region, have shown an increasing trend.

Calabarzon region comprises five provinces, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon province. Mimaropa is an administrative region comprising Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindora, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan.

The DOH said that as of Jan. 26, it has recorded 575 cases with nine deaths in Calabarzon,441 cases with five deaths in Metro Manila, 192 cases with four deaths in Central Luzon, 104 cases with three deaths in Western Visayas and 71 cases with one death in Central Visayas.

Measles, locally known as "tigdas," is a highly contagious viral disease that is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons.

As early as December last year, health experts warned against a possible outbreak of measles in the Philippines due to the declining trust in vaccines in the wake of a controversy that hounded a dengue immunization program in 2017.