Cockpit in Davao City ‘ground zero’

(File photo)
(File photo)

THE Department of Health-Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (DOH-Resu) in Davao Region said they are tracing some 400 personalities who had exposure to the New Davao Matina Gallera in Matina, Davao City after 12 cock derby goers have been confirmed positive with coronavirus disease (Covid-19), including the four who succumbed to the disease.

Dr. Cleo Fe Tabada, medical officer of DOH-Resu-Davao, said the 12 had travel history to the cockpit. Contact tracing is being conducted by their surveillance team to check whether the people in the cockpit had close contact with the 12 before their result came out.

“As far as we’ve seen the list, we’re not even sure if it was the exact list. There were about 400 people inside that pero this is (in) a span (of) since the start on March 6 to 12. We’re just basing on the list. We’re not exactly sure if it’s complete but we’re looking into it. But for now, we’re looking for about 400 people,” Tabada said.

The massive infection inside the cockpit has proven that there is already a local transmission in the city.

Tabada added that their team had coordinated with the management of New Davao Matina Gallera for the exact coverage of derby attendees to locate the people present on those days to prevent further transmission, especially if the attendees turn out to be positive.

She also said according to the Davao City Health Office (CHO), disinfection has been done inside the cockpit to eliminate the virus.

With the growing number of confirmed cases, Tabada admitted that contact tracing has been a challenge for them. They were not even half of their target personalities yet. They are closely coordinating with the National Intelligence Coordination Agency (Nica) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to trace the affected people.

“Naa na tay local transmission kay atong mga kaso nga nakit-an diri lang sila but they were exposed to a person who traveled or exposed to a positive case (We already have local transmission because some of our cases here have no travel history but they were exposed to a positive case who traveled or is also exposed to a positive case),” Tabada said.

Aside from the cockpit, DOH-Davao added that they are also looking into wedding and graduation ceremonies as another point of local transmission after patients who tested positive have gone into these ceremonies. DOH Davao, however, did not mention where these ceremonies happened.

Earlier, Tagum City Association of Barangay Captains president Bryan Kim Samuel Angoy revealed that he is a “presumptive positive case” for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), as revealed in his local laboratory test result administered by Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). He added that before he manifested the signs and symptoms, he visited Matina Gallera on March 10 and 12.

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