HAD the Covid-19 transmission in Davao City not been controlled, a local health chief said total morbidities in the city could have reached 1,000.
Based on the April 27, 2021 data of the Department of Health-Davao Region, Davao City has a total death of 685.
City Health Office (CHO) Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez, in a radio interview on Wednesday, April 28, said the city records an average case of zero to one death for the month of April.
Lopez said the weekly morbidity for the month is at an average of one death.
The health official attributed the low Covid-19 morbidity rate in the city to the continuous downtrend of cases in the city.
"Karon siguro, ang forecast man gud nako aning death rates, kung wala nato na-control ang Covid[-19] (Right now, if we were not able to control the Covid-19 transmission, our death rate), by this time, maybe we may have surpassed 1,000 deaths," Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
He said the city's critical care facilities, including the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), currently the only Covid-19 referral hospital in the city, had benefited from the downtrend of cases.
"Atong napaubsan ang kaso, labi na tong atong (We were able to control the number of cases especially those) admitted cases for moderate, severe, and critical cases sa SPMC, na-maintain nato ang atong (that is why we were able to maintain the number of) fatalities at 685 with fatality rate of 4.7-percent," the official said.
He added that critical patients have been given extensive medical treatment due to the low hospitalization occupancy.
In terms of active cases, the DOH-Davao reported 272. Lopez said the city's active cases noted a slight increase in the previous weeks. He, however, said it was expected since the city started its community surveillance testing.
Out of the 5,582 total swabbed individuals, only 1.3 percent or 72 tested positive for Sars-CoV-2.
Lopez assumed that the city continuously experiences “low” transmission of the virus.
"Lucky for Davao, this is a confirmation or proof nga gamay ra atong kaso in spite nga taas atong testing (that our cases are going down despite increasing our testing) -- 1,000 average test per day, our average positivity rate for Davao [City] right now is 2.38, which is way below the WHO [World Health Organization] threshold of five percent," he said.
Total recoveries in the city are now at 13,434, with a recovery rate of 93.4 percent, slightly higher than the national recovery rate of 90 percent.
Lopez admitted that the surge of cases in mid-October 2020 until January this year was a “lesson learned”, and that the city should improve further its hospitalization and critical care facilities.
Meanwhile, he reiterated his call for the continuous compliance of minimum health protocols despite the continuous downtrend of cases.
He also said the city will continue to impose strict measures to prevent a possible “second wave” of surge, as experienced in some parts of the country, especially with the discovery of the new Covid-19 variants.