FOUR more individuals in Davao City were found to be positive for the coronavirus as the government intensified contact tracing and random testing in the city.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio announced on Saturday, April 25, that four out of 62 individuals tested randomly in Barangay Leon Garcia and Barangay 23-C were Covid-19 positive.
“Out of 15, dunay tulo nga nagpositive sa Leon Garcia ug isa sa Isla Verde sa Barangay 23, out of 47 nga atoang gikuha, dunay isa nga nag positive (Out of 15, three were found positive in Leon Garcia and one was positive out of 47 we tested in Isla Verde in Barangay 23),” the mayor said during an interview via 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
She added that one of the four individuals are asymptomatic, while she did not mention the condition of the other three.
The testing on Thursday, April 23, was conducted by a team of the Department of Health (DOH).
Initially, the Davao City Government placed Purok 3, 4, and 7 of Barangay 23-C, Purok 8 of Barangay 21-C, Purok Sto. Niño in Barangay Leon Garcia, and Purok Lipadas in Barangay Daliao under a 14 day-purok lockdown.
On Friday afternoon, the Department of Health (DOH) conducted a random sampling test in the barangays of Bankerohan, Buhangin, and in-between 21-C and 23-C, to scout for Covid-19 positive residents.
The mayor said the number of positive cases is expected to rise following the intensified community case finding and random testing.
She said the city has strengthened the case finding through random testing in areas where there are recorded Covid-19 cases to locate more people who have possibly contracted the virus.
Duterte-Carpio said contact tracing is a measure to control the further spread of the disease, since the city cannot conduct massive mass testing.
She said random testing are being conducted in some barangays in the city, as suggested by the city’s medical consultants, to trace individuals who are carriers of the new virus.
So far, around 16 areas in Davao City have been subjected to street and household lockdowns after cases have been reported, which the mayor did not disclose.
The mayor said mass testing is still not possible since it will not reduce the number of Covid-19 positive cases in the city.
Unless there is a medicine and vaccine for Covid-19, the mayor said people cannot expect normalcy for now.
“What we need to ensure is dapat mubo ang numbers. Gamay lang ang magkasakit, matakdan, gamay lang ang mag-positive, and ma-catch dayon nato ang mag-positive (What we need to do is to ensure that the figures will not surge. It means, there should only be a few who would get sick, get infected, and get positive from the virus. With this, we could also immediately catch those who are positive from the virus),” Duterte-Carpio said.
The mayor, thus, ordered barangays to identify barangay isolation facilities within their jurisdictions.
Duterte-Carpio reminded barangay personnels not to identify public schools as an isolation facility.
As of April 24, Davao City remains to have the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases in Davao Region with a total of 99 of which 52 have already recovered while 17 died. (With PR)