Three hundred vendors and government employees of Agdao Public Market are going to be tested for COVID-19 after exposure to confirmed cases.
Based on the contact tracing of the city government, six of the confirmed COVID-19 patients revealed to have visited the wet market.
Maghatag ta sa atong mga vendors ug mga grocery packs para karon nga week. Ang target nato is seven days but i-check nato with the doctors kung duna pa bay need i-extend ug another seven days (We will distribute grocery packs to our vendors for this week. Our target is seven days but we need to check with the doctors if there is a needed to extend to another seven days),” Duterte said during her radio program.
The city government announced the closure of the public market starting 5 p.m. on May 23. “ The City Economic Enterprise shall create the masterlist for vendors to be given assistance by the City Social Welfare and Development Office,” the notice read.
The mayor also said that closing the wet market will give the local government a chance to sanitize it, including the surroundings. “And we will trace who among them, both employees are vendors, are exhibiting symptoms so that we can test them,” she explained.
As of 8 a.m. of May 25, Davao City has recorded 235 COVID-19 patients after registering 16 new confirmed cases. Of the total, 99 are considered active and 111 of them have already recovered. So far, there were 25 residents who succumbed to the virus and other complications.
Meanwhile, she also revealed that a sweeper bus arrived from Cebu City yesterday, and two more flights from Manila will arrive in the coming days. Duterte does not expect that all passengers would test negative for COVID-19.
“But the important thing is that we have prepared a system (health screening) to manage COVID-19,” she said.
Last week, two residents who boarded the mercy flight from Manila failed the health screening established at Francisco Bangoy International Airport. They were then herded to the Southern Philippines Medical Center for swabbing and brought to the local quarantine facility where they will remain for at least two weeks.