AFTER the hard lockdown in Barangay 23-C was lifted on Monday, July 20, 2020, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio revealed two residents tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
“Sa 58 na gi-swab nato through target testing, duha lang ka buok ang nag positive sa ilaha (Of the 58 people that we tested, only two turned out positive),” Duterte-Carpio said in an interview with 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
The mayor said the City Health Office (CHO) confirmed that the houses with the two positive cases in 23-C are subjected to household lockdown.
The Davao City government lifted the hard lockdown imposed on 23-C and downgraded the movement restriction to purok and household lockdowns as a continuing effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Lifting of the hard lockdown was decided after a series of Covid-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted from July 15 to 17, in seven puroks of 23-C, suggested that movement and control measures can be done by purok or house with coronavirus positive cases.
The 14-day lockdown should have ended on Saturday, July 18. However, Duterte-Carpio said they had waited for the results of the RT-PCR test before lifting it.
The City Government imposed a lockdown in 23-C after it was seen that there is community transmission of Covid-19 in the barangay.
As of July 16, 23-C has recorded a total of 102 confirmed cases, with 42 still recovering, while 58 already recovered and two died.
Despite lifting the hard lockdown of the area, she said the City can still impose a purok or house lockdown, depending on the severity of the transmission within the area.
The mayor added that the City will once again conduct targeted testing after 14 days even with the lifting of barangay enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to further ensure that the virus is contained.
Despite under modified general community quarantine (MECQ), the mayor said the city will continue to impose localized lockdowns within communities deemed to have a widespread of Covid-19 transmission, as granted by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases Omnibus Guidelines.
The mayor said the hard lockdown had slowed down the spread of the virus, which remains to have no vaccine or cure.
"Na-push nato downward ang cases nato (We were able to push downward the recorded Covid-19 cases)," Duterte-Carpio emphasizing that it was also evident to other places in the entire country.
Meanwhile, the mayor said the city government is currently monitoring Barangay 22-C, as it is emerging to be like 23-C.
Based on the DOH-Davao's case profile, as of July 19, 22-C has a total of 16 confirmed cases. Of the 16, 11 already recovered while four are still recovering. One succumbed to the virus.