Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 20) — Davao City’s quarantine rules are enough for now even with the rise in COVID-19 cases in the area, its local health office says.
“For now, I think sufficient naman po yung aming restrictions [our restrictions our sufficient],” Dr. Ashley Lopez, OIC of the city health office, told CNN Philippines when asked whether he will recommend stricter restrictions for the locality.
Davao City is currently under general community quarantine until the end of May. Lopez noted that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio recently released Executive Order No. 29, which adopts additional restrictions on the area’s land, air and sea travel borders as recommended by the regional IATF.
“We have in fact recalled yung ating [our negative] RT-PCR tests (results) among our travelers particularly those coming outside Davao region,” added the local health office chief.
Davao City is among the areas outside Metro Manila flagged by independent research group OCTA due to rising coronavirus infections over the past week. Lopez said they observed a rise in cases since the beginning of May compared to previous months, with the city currently tallying around 719 active cases out of the 15,000 listed since the onset of the pandemic.
He further explained that most of their cases came from local transmission, attributing the spike “partly” to “heightened surveillance and contact tracing” efforts.
Lopez also cited increased testing capacity, with the city’s COVID-19 tests averaging between 2,000 and 2,500 per day from the 500 to 600 average at the start of 2021.
Given the jump in cases logged, the city health office head added they already gave private hospitals a heads-up to prepare in case of an “overspilling” in cases from the Southern Philippines Medical Center. The health facility’s intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rate is going up and is now at around 77%, said Lopez.
However, Lopez assured they “have no problem” with their temporary treatment and monitoring facilities as they “have prepared enough.”
