Dr. Eric Tayag, acting head of the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center, said the team has been tasked to verify reports that a number of locals have manifested malaria-like symptoms in the past weeks.
"We are still looking into this. We are still waiting for the report of the team," he said.
According to news reports, some 30 residents of Purok San Lorenzo Ruiz in Barangay Apopong, General Santos City have fallen ill to malaria.
The World Health Organization said malaria is a "life- threatening parasitic disease" transmitted by mosquitoes.
Its symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms that appear about nine to 14 days after one is bitten by an infected mosquito. — Sheila Crisostomo