THE Mati City Government, which recorded only one active case of Covid-19 as of January 3, 2022, is bracing for the eventual arrival of the Omicron variant in the city.
Mati Incident Management Team (IMT) commander Dr. Ben Hur Catbagan Jr. said in a press release that they are intensifying their measures in anticipation of the possible detection of the highly infectious variant in the city.
Catbagan said the Delta variant remains to be the dominant variant of concern in the city, as well as in the entire province of Davao Oriental.
As part of the preparation for the latest variant of concern, the Mati IMT continues with their vaccination campaign to which a total of 86,706 Matinians have already been vaccinated or 80 percent of the target population of 107,424.
Of the 80 percent, 65 percent are fully vaccinated while 15 percent have received their first dose, as of January 2, 2022 data. Booster vaccination on the high risk population that includes senior citizens and those with comorbidities has already started.
Catbagan said they have already been busy training and preparing the barangay health workers to make them self-sufficient in the fight against Covid-19.
Aside from the construction of the 17 barangay isolation units that could also serve as testing centers for Covid-19, the Mati IMT has also trained the BHWs on how to test subjects using the rapid antigen test kits.
The city will also impose the granular lockdown system, which would help curb the transmission in the event of a surge of Covid-19 cases.
As of January 3, the city logged a total of 2,993 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 2,890 recoveries and 102 deaths.
Health authorities expect a peak of the Omicron variant surge to happen starting January 15 until February 19, wherein daily cases could reach as much as 20,000 to 40,000. (With reports from Mati CIO)