DABAWENYOS can expect a merrier Christmas, as Davao City continues to enjoy the improved Covid-19 situation on the ground, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said on Monday, November 15.
“Continuing ang atoang downtrend of cases. Looking good ang mga hospitals nato. Sa pagkakaron, naa nalang isa ka hospital nga nagamit iyang isa kabuok ICU [intensive care unit] (We have a continuing downtrend of cases. Our hospital utilization is improving. As of now, we only have one hospital whose ICU is being utilized), and everyone is in SPMC [Southern Philippines Medical Center] ay mga cases nato," she said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
“I think it is safe to say that it will be a Merry Christmas in Davao City,” she added.
The mayor recently issued an executive order, mandating SPMC as the designated Covid-19 referral hospital in the city following the decline of active cases.
As of November 14, active cases in the city were at 450, with only 11 new cases recorded on that day.
Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser also said the city's daily positivity rate declined to four percent, showing a downtrend in active cases in the city.
The mayor also recently attributed the decline of cases in the city to the increased number of vaccinated individuals.
According to the mayor, the city has already administered 951,686 first doses, achieving a 73.21 percent coverage out of the targeted 1.2 million herd immunity, while 875,080 doses were inoculated for the second dose, having a target rate of 67.31 percent.
Davao City is currently classified as a low risk area, resulting in the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) classifying the city to a less-strict Alert Level 2 status.
Recently-resigned Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced the city’s updated alert status after a month of being placed under Alert Level 3.
Duterte-Carpio said the city deserves to be placed under a less strict alert status for their effort in abiding the health protocols to curb the spread of the virus.
“Everyone deserves that sa hago sa mga Dabawenyo (the efforts of Dabawenyos) for the past year and four months, everyone deserves that Alert Level 2, kung unsay concessions na ginahatag sa national government sa pagpa-implement anang (whatever the concessions the national government will provide under) Alert Level 2,” she said.
With this, the mayor the city is anticipating a surge, not of the Covid-19 cases, but of visitors in the city following the relaxation of some restrictions, including the lifting of the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results to all travelers entering the city, issued on Monday.
Duterte-Carpio reminded her constituents and guests to continuously follow the guidelines, and observe the minimum health protocols to avoid a possible surge.
It can be remembered that the city experienced a surge of cases in the first quarter of this year following last year’s Holiday season due to gatherings and other non-essential activities.