Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 14) — Davao City suspended its free swab tests for arriving passengers at Davao International Airport to reallocate funds amid the rising local transmission of COVID-19.
Gene Rose Tecson, head of the Davao City Tourism Operations Office, said the tests were halted on January 13. She noted that the city government will instead redirect resources to address the increasing coronavirus cases recorded in the past few days.
The free reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR tests will resume once its Los Amigos COVID-19 Laboratory starts operating, she added.
Tecson called on all neighboring local government units to pick up their residents who are stranded at the airport. Non-Davao City residents will be allowed to exit the airport even without the swab test as long as they can present other needed documents and they will be fetched by their respective LGUs, she explained.
For arriving passengers, those with negative RT-PCR test results taken within 24-72 hours before their flights to the city will be prioritized for exit.
For Davao City residents without RT-PCR test results, Tecson said other documents will be checked, like health declaration forms.
They will also be given a health monitoring form to be submitted to their Barangay Health Emergency Response Team, and are required to undergo a 14-day home quarantine.
Based on latest data from the Department of Health, nearly 2,000 new infections were reported on Thursday, bringing total tally to 494,605. Davao City reported the highest increase with 136 new cases.
As of January 13, the total number of cases in Davao city reached 10,202, with 1,352 active cases, 8,519 recoveries, and 331 deaths.
CNN Philippines correspondent Pearl Gajunera contributed to this report.
