Davao City now has 40 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus disease. It is the highest so far in Mindanao.
Based on the data released by the Department of Health XI (DOH XI), as of March 29, the city tallied four deaths and four recoveries.
The number was 10 more than the previously announced 30 patients positive for the virus on March 28.
However, the health department did not disclose any details concerning the new patients.
The Southern Philippine Medical Center is already an autonomous subnational laboratory, which means it is now capable of testing for COVID-19. Expectedly, the number of positive cases will only rise as more tests are conducted.
The DOH XI also bared that there are two positive COVID-19 individuals in Davao del Sur, three in Davao del Norte, two in Davao Occidental, and one in Davao de Oro who has since recovered.
Davao Oriental remains the only province with zero reported cases.
The overall confirmed cases in the region are 48 individuals with four deaths and five recoveries.
As of March 29 also, DOH recorded 415 persons under investigation in the region. Of the total, 258 individuals already tested negative for COVID-19.
As of 4 p.m. of March 30, the total number of positive COVID-19 patients in the country already rose to 1.546 with 692 more pending results by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. There were 128 new cases recorded by the health department and seven additional deaths.
Mayor Sara Duterte said that the city is not on lockdown yet, pending the recommendation of the infectious disease specialists. However, the local government already resumed the distribution of the food and medicine quarantine passes.
The passes will be coursed through the councilors down to the barangay captains. In turn, the purok leaders will be tapped to distribute them to each household. For subdivisions and gated communities, their homeowner associations will be responsible for distributing the documents to each member. They may get the passes from the purok leaders.
The distribution of the food and medicine pass is in preparation for the enhanced community quarantine.
