Contact tracing teams have intensified testing for COVID-19 by taking random samples from residents of targeted barangays in the city.
In an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio on Friday, Mayor Sara Duterte said the goal is to amplify contact tracing in some affected areas following the reports of COVID-19 confirmed cases.
As the city cannot conduct massive testing, the epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists recommended random testing to scout for possible confirmed cases.
On Friday, three teams conducted random testing in Bankerohan, Buhangin, and areas adjacent to Barangay 21-C and Barangay 23-C.
“What would happen if the team found positive cases? Those persons will be asked to come, to find the people they had contact with, and from there on, the doctors will decide whether to undergo a lockdown – meaning no one, from those people, can go out,” she said.
If one tested positive for COVID-19 during the random testing, they will be immediately transported to a quarantine facility in the city. The contact tracing teams will also be scouting for individuals with exposure to the positive case.
The streets or household with a positive case will possibly be subjected to a lockdown.
The city, Duterte said, has already stepped up its contact tracing to those who have been exposed to positive cases in order to control further transmissions. The city government is now at its third level of contact tracing.
“This is important because we need to know who needs to be tested and we need to orient them on what they need to do which is strict isolation, meaning they must not go near anyone,” she said, adding that there are asymptomatic cases who needed to be traced since they have not submitted themselves for a checkup.
