The city has prepared quarantine areas for suspected cases of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the city.
Mayor Sara Duterte in an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio said that mild cases, persons under investigation (PUI) will be put in the rehabilitation center in Malagos. The Boy Scouts of the Philippines facility in Malagos will be utilized in case of a surge. The Alternative Learning Center near People’s Park has also been made a reserve site for quarantine.
She already asked the Department of Education to dedicate one entire public school as a PUI area. For severe cases, the PUIs will be directly sent to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).
Duterte has directed private hospitals to avoid accepting COVID-19 patients, and instead direct them to the SPMC.
“We have to understand that even with this pandemic, we still have emergency cases not related to COVID-19,” she said.
She also said that if all hospitals in the city will be accommodating COVID-19 patients, then there is a big possibility that all hospitals will be contaminated.
“We should also our health workers, the danger of it, if all health personnel will be contaminated then there will be no one left to cure and care for the patients,” she said.
She also said that if these private hospitals happen to have suspected COVID-19 cases, they should report immediately to the operation center of the city. The public is asked to avoid calling 911, but the hotline of the operation center only.
“Our 911 is reserved only for emergencies. We still have calamities and certain emergencies aside from COVID-19, so we you should only call our operation center,” she said, adding that a transport vehicle will be provided to transfer suspected cases to their quarantine areas.
Ambulances are also reserved for critical patients only.
