KORONADAL CITY, SOUTH COTABATO — The Office of the Provincial Health Officer (OPHO) through the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU) tagged 21 barangays across the province as active dengue hotspot areas due to continuous case clustering.
In the municipality of Banga, critical clusters were recorded in Barangays Cinco, Liwanay, Punong Grande, and San Vicente, while Koronadal City flagged Barangays San Jose and San Roque.
The town of Lake Sebu identified hotspots in Barangays Lamcade, Poblacion, and Siloton, while Surallah recorded high concentrations in Barangays Centrala, Dajay, Libertad, and Tubiala.
In Tboli, the monitoring teams tracked cases in Barangays Desawo, Kematu, and Laconon. Completing the provincial hotspot registry are several key areas from other municipalities, which include Barangay Poblacion in Norala, Barangay Poblacion in Sto. Niño, Barangay Poblacion in Tampakan, and Barangay Linan in Tupi.
Official epidemiological surveillance data revealed that South Cotabato logged 161 new dengue cases from May 31 to June 6, 2026, marking a significant increase from the 131 cases documented during the previous morbidity week.
PESU has raised the alarm following a notable 23% spike in new dengue infections within a single week, prompting local health authorities to aggressively enforce vector control protocols across the province.
This latest surge brings the cumulative province-wide caseload to 1,653 infections from January 4 to June 6, 2026. While health officials noted that this total is currently 27% lower compared to the figures recorded during the exact same period last year, recent weekly indicators show that the province-wide case count has already breached critical epidemic thresholds multiple times, specifically during Morbidity Weeks 15 to 16, and most recently in Morbidity Week 21.
In immediate response to the rising rainy season risks, the IPHO has issued a strict public health advisory urging all South Cotabateños to integrate the “4T Kontra Dengue” strategy into their daily household routines. Health officials stressed that breaking the mosquito life cycle begins with localized sanitation habits. The 4T protocol mandates four specific actions.
The 4T protocol mandates four specific, interconnected actions to effectively eliminate mosquito breeding grounds. First, households must practice TAOB by overturning all empty water containers, pots, and tins to prevent them from collecting rainwater.
This is immediately followed by TAKTAK, which requires thoroughly shaking out and draining any accumulated stagnant water from plant saucers, discarded tires, and clogged roof gutters.
Additionally, residents must maintain TUYO by actively wiping down surfaces and ensuring completely dry surroundings in and around the entire household perimeter.
Finally, the strategy enforces TAKIP, instructing everyone to securely cap and seal all domestic water storage drums and barrels to prevent day-biting vectors from accessing and breeding in clean water reserves.
The provincial government emphasizes that making these four actions a daily household habit is the most effective defense mechanism to cut off vector propagation and secure family safety.
According to the PESU profile, the ages of affected individuals span from a one-month-old infant to a 96-year-old senior citizen, with a median age of 19. The majority of the cases involved male patients, accounting for 50.2% of the overall registry.
In terms of clinical diagnostics, 820 cases (50%) are currently classified as suspect, 642 cases (39%) have been laboratory-confirmed, and the remaining 191 cases (11%) are tagged as probable.
Medical evaluation further showed that a substantial portion of the patients developed complications, with 1,065 individuals (63.4%) classified under dengue with warning signs. Meanwhile, 583 patients (35.3%) experienced dengue without warning signs, and five cases (0.3%) advanced to severe clinical dengue.
The province has officially verified seven dengue-related deaths, translating to a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 0.4%. The fatalities were recorded in specific clusters, namely Cannery Site, Magsaysay, and Poblacion in Polomolok; Lamsugod and Libertad in Surallah; New Dumangas in Tboli; and Poblacion in Tupi.
The ages of those who died ranged from 8 months to 18 years, with a median age of four years, underscoring those young children within the 0 to 9 age bracket remain the most vulnerable. Epidemiological analysis indicated that 57% of the fatalities initially presented dengue with warning signs, while the remaining 43% were severe dengue cases. Eighty-six percent of these deaths were laboratory-confirmed.
The PESU report explicitly noted that localized infections in Surallah and Tampakan surpassed their specific epidemic thresholds during Morbidity Weeks 20 to 21, while the municipalities of Banga, Lake Sebu, and Tupi remained critically above their epidemic lines during the same timeframe. Distinct case clustering was mapped across multiple barangays in 11 local government units.
To break the transmission cycle and protect communities, the IPHO has rolled out a comprehensive set of technical and community-level recommendations aimed at mitigating vector density.
Local health units have been instructed to immediately implement routine vector surveillance to systematically detect prominent mosquito breeding sites and closely monitor high-risk zones. Local government units are also directed to organize synchronized, community-wide cleanup initiatives across all barangays, focusing heavily on the identified hotspot zones where cases continue to multiply.
Public health workers are doubling down on community education, aggressively advocating for daily household sanitation habits centered on the elimination and destruction of potential stagnant water sources. Additionally, the IPHO is encouraging the public to maximize personal protection measures, including the use of mosquito repellents and long-sleeved clothing, to safeguard families against day-biting vectors.
