DAVAO CITY’s continued downtrend in COVID-19 cases is attributed to the city government’s stringent health and safety regulations, including active-case finding and surveillance activities in communities, a local health official said.
With the ongoing community testing in the city, Davao City Health Office (CHO) acting head Dr. Ashley Lopez on Wednesday, April 14, during the ‘COVID-19 Alert’ program on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio, urged the public to voluntarily participate in the surveillance swabbing conducted by the city government to prevent the further transmission of the coronavirus disease.
“With this active case-finding sa atong mga surveillance activities ug sa atong intensified contact tracing, expect gyud ta daghan ta’g ma-swab, daghan ta’g ma-test and the target is at least 1,000 testing per day. Kung daghan ta’g ma-test, natural daghan pud tag ma-detect nga positive.
Luckily, our positivity rate is still low (With this active case-finding in our surveillance activities and our intensified contact tracing, we expect more to be tested and our target is at least 1,000 testing per day. We also expect to detect more positive cases. Luckily, our positivity rate is still low),” Lopez said.
Lopez said that the surveillance swabbing will help determine the effectivity of the city’s COVID-19 response efforts and validate the slowing down of cases in the city.
“Mao nang significance sa surveillance swabbing, atong ma-confirm kung kaning ginabuhat nato nga campaign o testing nato kaning regular activities nato with COVID-19 campaign is tinuod ba. It will be confirmed by the surveillance swabbing (The significance of this surveillance swabbing is to confirm if our testing activities and COVID-19 campaign is factual. It will be confirmed by the surveillance swabbing),” Lopez explained.
He also confirmed the continuous downtrend of COVID-19 cases in the city despite the rising of cases in the National Capital Region, however, he said this is not the cause to be complacent.
“The turnout of the surveillance swabbing that we are having right now is indeed nag-prove sa atoa nga ang atong kaso against COVID-19 here in Davao is really slowing down. I would say our COVID-19 community transmission within Davao City is going down (The turnout of the surveillance swabbing that we are having right now, indeed, proved that our cases against COVID-19 here in Davao are really slowing down. I would say our COVID-19 community transmission within Davao City is going down),” he said.
According to Lopez, around 3,000 individuals have been tested in the surveillance swabbing for the past two weeks since its implementation with a low positivity rate. 57 of these have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 that causes the coronavirus disease.
He added that more activities will be conducted related to it, especially in workplaces and in high-risk barangays.
“Almost every day naa ta’y schedule, nagbuhat nag-itinerary atong in-charge ani. For the whole month, we have schedules already. Not only sa atoang pampublikong lugar or establishments but also sa atong several workplaces including mga high-risk barangays (Almost every day, we have a schedule, our in-charge already prepared an itinerary for this. For the whole month, we have schedules already. Not only in public places but also in several workplaces and high-risk barangays),” Lopez said.
Lopez also encouraged everyone to avail of the free consultation at their nearest barangay health districts if they manifest influenza-like symptoms like colds, cough, and fever to prevent the further transmission of the disease.
“Kung naa mo’y high index of suspicion nga exposed mo sa usa ka COVID-19 nga pasyente or naa mo’y mga symptoms like influenza-like symptoms, kanang symptoms nga related sa trangkaso, sip-on, ubo, pwede mo magpa-swab. Kini libre ni sya nga ginaprovide sa atong government (If you have a high index of suspicion that you are exposed to a COVID-19 confirmed case or experience influenza-like symptoms like flu, colds, and cough, immediately get tested. This is all provided free by the government),” Lopez said. CIO
