Soccsksargen sees surge in COVID-19 cases

KORONADAL CITY — Soccsksargen (Region 12) logged 154 new COVID-19 cases as of Thursday evening, January 13, a 3,750-percent leap from the four cases recorded since the first day of 2022, records showed.

The new COVID-19 cases brought the total active cases to 503, up 337 percent from the 115 active cases logged on January 1, per data from the Department of Health – Region 12 (DOH-12).

Of the new COVID-19 cases, 80 were recorded in General Santos City, 47 in South Cotabato, 21 in North Cotabato and 6 in Sultan Kudarat. No new COVID-19 case was recorded in Sarangani province on Thursday.

Of the 503 total COVID-19 active cases in the region as of Thursday evening, General Santos City posted the highest with 261, South Cotabato with 128, North Cotabato with 84, Sultan Kudarat with 20 and Sarangani with 10.

Since the onslaught of the pandemic two years, Region 12 recorded a total of 57,627 confirmed COVID-19 cases – 18,611 in South Cotabato, 14,551 in General Santos, 10,794 in North Cotabato, 7,068 in Sultan Kudarat and 6,603 in Sarangani, DOH-12 data showed.

At least 2,316 individuals died due to COVID-19 while 54,789 others recovered from the contagious disease across the region, it added.

Dr. Sulpicio Henry Legaspi, DOH-12 assistant director, stressed the need for the strict implementation of the health protocols to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the region.

He also called on individuals entitled to get the COVID-19 vaccine to avail it to protect themselves from the disease.

The DOH-12 has not recorded any case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the region, so far.

In this city, the seat of government of Region 12, Koronadal Mayor Eliordo Ogena said Friday that he will issue a new memorandum constituting teams that will roam around the city to check establishments that disregard the minimum health protocols.

“They will be given the power to close the shops that don’t observe the health protocols,” he said in the local government’s radio program, noting the rising cases of COVID-19 in the locality.

So far, the mayor reported that 61 percent of the target population have been totally vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ogena said the local government is readying to deploy its teams of “rekorida,” which make public announcements on wheels, to warn the public against the threats of the new Omicron variant.

Koronadal, the capital of South Cotabato, is currently under Alert Level 2.

/MUF