CONTACT tracing among suspected patients of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to be a struggle for the City Government, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said.

In a virtual presser Friday, August 7, 2020, via 87.5 Davao City Disaster Radio, the city mayor said there are currently 282 contact tracers in Davao City.

“Maghulat ta sa recommendation sa City Health if there’s a need to hire for additional people sa contact tracing. (We will wait for the recommendation of City Health if there’s a need to hire additional people for contact tracing),” she said.

She also said that based on the reports that reached her about contact tracing, some of the suspected patients were not willing to disclose information.

“Ang uban dili na makahinumdom sakto for 14 days, dili ganahan ang uban sa sige usab-usab pangutana, ug ang uban dili na ma-contact. We have the names, we have the numbers pero dili na ma-contact. Dili na mutubag,” the mayor said.

(Others have difficulty remembering where they were for the last 14 days, others don’t want to be asked again and again, while others can no longer be reached. We have the names and numbers but they can’t be reached. They won’t answer anymore.)

In the latest data provided by the Department of Health Davao Region Friday, barangays in Davao City with the most cases of community transmission for the last 14 days are Barangay 76-A (Bucana area) and Brgy 23-C.

Other barangays with the most number of cases in the city are barangays Buhangin and Sasa. Buhangin got its recorded cases mostly from health workers while Sasa mostly had positive locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos.