GenSan intensifies surveillance against Covid-19 variants

The city government of General Santos has intensified surveillance against Covid-19 variants due to an ongoing surge in local infections.

Dr. Carl Hill Florida, spokesperson for the City Inter-Agency Task Force, announced that 54 additional swab samples have been sent to UP-PGC for analysis.

UP-PGC and DOH confirmed five cases of 'variants of concern' since last month; four patients tested positive for B.1.17 (UK variant) and one for B.1.617 (India variant).

Mayor Ronnel Rivera reported two more cases involving seafarers who have already recovered, testing positive for the UK and India variants based on genome sequencing by UP-PGC.