The City Health Office was directed to prepare a strategic plan in preparation for the resumption of the Davao International Airport to accommodate commercial flights.
We ordered our City Health Office to prepare a 24-hour rotational scheme to render duty on the airport, Mayor Sara Duterte said in yesterdays radio program.
But she quickly added it is still up to the national government to recommend when commercial flights will resume at Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
She said that under the new normal, if social distancing and the limit on the number of flights are followed, there would be around 2,000 outbound passengers a day.
The city government will screen the inbound and outbound passengers. Those who fail the screening will not be allowed to board the plane.
We have a total of 2,266 inbound passengers and ug 3,635 outbound since April 29, 2020, she said.
Even after the quarantine, we will still employ health screening, as long as there is no cure and there is no vaccine, the surveillance will continue to check who are manifesting symptoms, she said.
Earlier, Duterte bared that two of the passengers of the sweeper flight initiated by the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA) failed the initial health screening.
The passengers, who were among 50 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) returning to Mindanao from Manila via the Davao International Airport, were immediately brought to the Southern Philippines Medical Center for swab testing.
Upon the arrival of the sweeper flight to the DIA, all 50 passengers were subjected to a rapid diagnostic test and checkup for respiratory disease infection.
City Health Officer Dr. Josephine Villafuerte said the health screening will determine if an arriving passenger will be quarantined at an isolation facility, sent to the SPMC for swab test, or undergo the mandatory 14-day home quarantine.
We have a strict health screening to all those who will arrive in the city as part of the citys measure for COVID-19, she said.
City Tourism Operation Officer Gene Rose Tecson said that while all stranded returning individuals to Mindanao needed to show medical certificates or PCR test results before boarding the plane.
They are tested days or weeks before the flight, Tecson said. The negative result will not make them safe from the virus, it will just make them complacent.
