MANILA - Eighteen people have died due to leptospirosis in Rizal province and 60 more were under observation for the disease, the provincial governor said Saturday.

Governor Casimiro "Jun" Ynares III told radio dzMM that 13 of the 18 of the leptospirosis deaths were recorded in San Mateo; 1 in Montalban; 2 in Taytay; 1 in Angono; and another 1 in Binangonan.

Ynares said there are 7 more people suspected of having the disease in San Mateo; 46 in Montalban; 5 in Taytay; 1 in Angono and 1 in Binangonan.

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque had said that they are closely monitoring flooded areas in the province, where a total of 54 people have been with diagnosed the disease.

The DOH had also declared an outbreak of the disease in three villages in Marikina City, where 82 people have been confirmed of having leptospirosis.

Duque said there were already 89 leptospirosis deaths in Metro Manila and Rizal. He said the deaths were from the 1,067 people who had been admitted in at least a dozen hospitals due to leptospirosis in the capital.

He added that at least 1.7 million people in Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) are exposed to the bacteria because of stagnant floods.

The leptospirosis cases were recorded during the first 15 days of October. He added that most of the cases were recorded on October 14 to 15, or more than 2 weeks after Ondoy struck.

Floodwaters swamped a large part of Metro Manila and Calabarzon provinces after tropical storm Ondoy (international codename Ketsana) dumped a month's volume of rains on September 26.

The leptospirosis deaths are not included in the government's official death toll from Ondoy, which has been pegged at 354, as of Friday morning.

A separate report on tropical storm Pepeng (Parma), meanwhile, showed that a total of 419 people have died due to landslides and floods. With a report from Jun Lingcoran, radio dzMM