Davao City – The city government of Davao will continue its intensified active case surveillance in the communities despite the drop in confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) positive cases in recent days.
City Health Office (CHO) acting head Dr. Ashley Lopez said that while the National Capital Region (NCR) and Central Visayas Region are currently battling the surge of COVID-19 cases due to the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA) variants, “We have to implement, maintain, and intensify our active surveillance.”
A simple case of colds or cough or manifesting lack of smell or taste, according to him, should not be taken lightly.
“Di magduha-duha mag testing na ta, that’s the only way to prevent and determine if naay COVID o wala. We need to intensify our active case surveillance, especially sa atong mga langyaw, OFWs, og returning residents,” Lopez said during the COVID-19 Alert Program of the Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) on Wednesday, March 10.
RT-PCR testing is free, he said, and those manifesting symptoms will just have to go directly to the nearest barangay of the district office to undergo a clinical assessment. From there, they will be transported to the city’s RT-PCR testing centers.
He said intensifying the active case surveillance is necessary after the Inter-Agency Task Force (AITF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases issued Resolution 101, which mandated the uniform travel protocols for land, air, and sea. Resolution 101 relaxed the travel protocols, as it no longer requires a passenger to provide a travel authority or health certificate as then mandated by the Joint Task Force (JTF) Covid Shield. The mandatory RT-PCR testing before was also lifted by the IATF resolution unless a local government unit (LGU) enforces it or when the traveler is symptomatic.
Doctors have also been assigned at the Davao International Airport (DIA) to conduct a clinical assessment of arriving flight passengers.
Lopez also said, “As what Mayor Inday Sara Duterte said, we need to continue observing the minimum health standards and readily submit for testing when manifesting COVID-19 symptoms.”
Meanwhile, he added that the city government of Davao has controlled the transmission or the spread of infection due to the implementation of strict mitigating measures.
Lopez, also the city COVID-19 focal person, attributed the drop in confirmed COVID-19 cases to the efforts of the city government.
Based on the Department of Health Davao COVID-19 regional daily case bulletin, as of 5 p.m. of March 9, Davao City recorded 23 active cases, or a total of 585 active cases. Since March 2020, Davao City logged a total of 13,253 cases and 12,025 of which have recovered while 643 have died.
(City Information Office | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)