MAYOR Sara Duterte said on Monday that the city has already prepared additional facilities if ever there will be a surge of Delta cases.
“Sa atoa, ang beds nato for isolation is 2,104, mao na ang sa TTMF sa city gov’t side. Ang sa hospital side duna naman nay guide in cases of surge or kung walay surge unsa ang mga bed preparations sa mga hospitals,” the Mayor said over live interview at City Operated Radio.
But she said there would be no special preparations for the more transmissible Delta virus as the national action plan still calls for effective testing, tracing, isolation, or treatment as the most efficient way to deal with this new variant.
During the meeting with the Department of Health, they already tackled the things that need to be done: one is to immediately relocate the cases, (a) get the updated clinical and laboratory data, (b) if the case is still admitted or in the facility ensure that he/she correctly isolated.
If the case is already at home, facilitate quarantine in a facility. If asymptomatic and RT-PCR negative may be discharged.
Next is to do immediate contact tracing, (a) third generation contact tracing is recommended but prioritize location of close contact first, (b) quarantine all contacts and conduct an RT-PCR, if 14-day quarantine done from last exposure is completed.
“Makita nato na naa siyay additional testing sa RT-PCR. Increase detection and ensure immediate isolation and quarantine. Granular lockdown, which is naa sa atong action plan as well we adopted how to do it and the parameters from the national government,” she said.
“Actively look for cases or active case finding and test all cases using RT-PCR. Ensure all cases and close contacts are in a facility,” she added.
Also, the mayor said there should be a recommended consideration in the Delta variant wherein the patients will have their own facility. The problem is that the variant could not be immediately identified as it takes days, or sometimes weeks, like what happened to the 28-year-old patient, whose confirmation was just announced after she was swabbed on June 26.
“Ang importante lang diri is we do the same action plan. We still need to do all the types of testing that we do, ILI (influenza like testing), kinahanglan kung naa kay sintomas magpatest ka. F1 to F3 surveillance testing and active case finding,” she further said.
First Delta case
A city health official on Monday confirmed the first case of the Delta variant for the city.
According to Dr. Michelle Schlosser, City COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson, the 28-year-old female was swabbed on June 26, 2021, after her exposure to a confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 case at her workplace.
The Davao City Health Office received the confirmatory results of the surveillance test from the UP-Philippine Genome Center on July 24, 2021.
The patient has completed the required isolation period of 14 days and has since recovered. Before her exposure, the case has received two doses of the anti-COVID-19 vaccines.
The Davao City Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit of the City Health Office will conduct reinvestigation, repeat testing, and isolation in coordination with the Department of Health Davao Region up to the third generation contacts of the case.
During the Usapang Pangkalusugan on Monday, Schlosser said the patient is living alone so her close contact is her workmates (15 individuals) identified as close contact. They were all swabbed.
“The patient is quarantined at Palm Residences Inn for 14 days and currently the health status is recovered,” Schlosser said.
“The action plan that they have conducted together with the Department of Health is the retracing of the close contacts and the patient for re-swabbing and to make sure that they are quarantined,” she added.
She said the patient is fully vaccinated, which helped in her faster recovery.
Meanwhile, the Davao COVID-19 TF continues to urge the public to follow the minimum health standards to prevent the spread of the virus.
On possible next quarantine status
Schlosser said the COVID-19 task force is conducting a weekly meeting. “Although our current status is General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status with heightened restrictions we follow very strict strategies,” she said.
“The transition from Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine to GCQ is not that different at the moment a strict border control is being implemented, expanded contract tracing and massive surveillance swabbing, mandatory swabbing and expanded testing, therefore, there are more swab sites,” she added.
