CITY HALL has lifted the hard lockdown on Barangay 23-C, which has an estimated population of 18,000, beginning at Monday noon, July 20.
In a statement, the local government bared that a series of reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests were conducted last July 15 to July 17 across seven puroks (sub-villages) in the barangay.
“In the 58 (residents) that we swabbed (through targeted testing), only two tested positive,” Mayor Sara Duterte said in her radio program yesterday.
The purok and house lockdown will continue, she said, and it is up to the doctors to determine which ones to quarantine. “But for now, we no longer have a barangay ECQ. We already lifted the hard lockdown,” she said.
The city added that security health protocols will continue to be “strictly observed” during the purok or household lockdown, noting that food and other basic necessities will be given to the residents in the affected areas.
“These actions are being taken to prevent the massive spread of the killer virus in and outside of the area due to confirmed positive cases,” the city government said.
“After 14 days, another test will be conducted in the barangay,” Duterte said. She said that the next round of swab tests will still be targeted based on the patient history, interview with the confirmed patient, and link with the possible cases.
“The common (thread) is that they are all residents of Barangay 23-C. You can see how patients are connected based on patient history, as long as the information will not keep any information as a secret,” she added.
She also said that they are looking at the adjacent Barangay 22-C as an emerging problem because of the confirmed cases. For now, they are discussing whether or not to put the community under lockdown.
Last July 4, the city government placed Barangay 23-C on hard lockdown, the only one out of the 182 barangays in Davao City, as local health authorities previously reported 17 residents being infected of the disease within the span of the six-day period from June 28 to July 30.
In a previous interview over the government-run Davao City Disaster Radio, Duterte said that the situation in Barangay 23-C is “very severe”, stressing that many COVID-19 patients of the city come from the area.
“The situation in Barangay 23-C is very severe because we have so many patients who come from Barangay 23-C. This has been the subject of several meetings already to know what interventions we should do in that area,” she said.
Barangay 23-C is among the three barangays considered to be a hotspot for COVID-19 and has been tagged by the local government as a “very high risk” area as of their July 18 to July 24 barangay classification.
Previously, the barangay has recorded a total of 88 residents infected by the virus, with two reported deaths. The youngest case in the barangay was a 25-day old baby, while the oldest was 75-years old.
As of June 19, the Department of Health (DOH) – Davao has recorded a total of 28 new cases in the region bringing the total number of COVID-19 positives to 964.
Of the new cases, 15 are from Davao City, four from Davao del Norte, four from Davao Oriental, two from both provinces of Davao de Oro and Davao Occidental, and one positive case form Davao del Sur.
Davao City remains to have the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the region with a total of 686 positives, 232 of which are active cases, contributing to the 392 remaining active cases in Region 11. With Joel B. Escovilla
