Davao City – A total of 822 houses, one building, and one compound are placed under lockdown as of January 24, 2022, amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in Davao City, which is expected to end by mid-March yet.
Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte bared this during the Special Hour program of 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) also aired on Monday, January 24.
She said the City Government of Davao has utilized 1,112 personnel for these lockdowns.
“As predicted, we are on a surge, if I’m correct, on the third week of January. This is the second week of the surge already. Ang atoang active cases are 6,899 and it is expected to climb up pa so layo-layo pa gyud ta sa peak ani nga surge sa Omicron (As predicted, we are on a surge, if I’m correct, on the third week of January. This is the second week of the surge already. Our active cases are 6,899 and it is expected to climb as we are still a long way off to peak in this Omicron surge),” the mayor said.
As of January 23, 2022, Davao City’s active cases spiked to 8,037 as shown in the Department of Health (DOH) Davao COVID-19 Regional Daily Case Bulletin. This raised the city’s total COVID-19 cases to 63,205 since March 2020 with 53,348 recoveries and 1,820 deaths.
Mayor Duterte said the city will continue implementing the PDITR strategy or the prevention, detection, isolation and quarantining, treatment inside hospitals, and reintegration if they recover plus vaccination and boostering. Morgue monitoring is also in place for the quick burial of those who died of COVID-19.
She also said, “One of the doctors na naistorya nako said that we will be on this surge until mga mid-March, hopefully not, kung forecasting ang gina-istoryahan ingon ana. It is really a surge, so magremind ta sa tanan natong mga kaigsoonang Dabawenyo nga extra ingat, extra careful when you go out. Make sure that you continue to wear your mask bisan asa mo. Ayaw mo pagkumpyansa sa inyohang kauban sa mga balay. Daghan kaayo ang asymptomatic and daghan kaayo ang mild cases. Dili nila first thought ang Covid tungod mild lang ilang symptoms. And of course ang distancing nato, always remind ourselves to keep a distance from other people and pirmanenteng panghugas nato sa atong kamot gamit ang sabon ug tubig (One of the doctors that I talked with said that we will be in this surge until mid-March, hopefully not, but with forecasting, that might be the case. It is really a surge so we are reminding our fellow Dabawenyos to be extra careful when you go out. Make sure that you continue to wear your mask wherever you are. Don’t be complacent in your own households. There are a lot of asymptomatic and mild cases. They wouldn’t think they’re with COVID-19 because of their mild symptoms. And of course our distancing, always remind ourselves to keep a distance from other people and frequently wash our hands with soap and water).”
The mayor said that contact tracing remains a challenge as contact tracers only rely on the memory and honesty of COVID-19 confirmed positive patients while the Safe Davao QR is not also consistently used by individuals.
As of noon of January 23, 2022, only 889 of the city’s total 2,606 isolation and quarantine beds remained vacant as some COVID-19 patients are currently on home isolation.
But Mayor Duterte underscored that home isolation is only an option for those who can comply with the DOH home isolation guidelines or criteria, particularly those who have been tested positive for COVID-19, with their bedroom attached to their comfort room or toilet and bath, and are manifesting no to mild or moderate symptoms.
“Dili na kaayo ta maburden magsige og add o magsige buhat og beds for our TTMFS (We won’t be burdened in adding or creating beds for our TTMFS),”
(Source: Davao City Information Office)