DAVAO CITY – The City Health Office added and systemized their swabbing centers as more Davawenyos sought COVID-19 tests.
The city established another swab center in Magsaysay Park to decongest the Santa Ana Health Center as it averages 2,000 persons a day as it accommodates walk-ins, F1 (first generation) category persons and referrals from District Offices.
The swab center at Crocodile Park in Diversion Road is designated for drive thru surveillance swabbing from companies and groups.
City Health Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said during the weekly COVID Update on Disaster Radio Wednesday, that they had conducted 3,360 tests in four days from May 28 to 31. The results came out on June 1 revealing 338 tested positive for COVID-19.
The Department of Health recorded 1,437 active cases in Davao City as of June 2. It reported a high of 926 new cases from May 20 to 26, the highest record for this year.
Lopez believed the high cases may have come from returning residents and OFW’s as some travelled by land and were not monitored during a period when Luzon and Visayas had a rise in COVID cases.
The health official said they are awaiting reports from the Philippine Genome Center to verify if the new cases were caused by a variant of Sars-Cov-2.
Due to the rising cases, the Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has requested the IATF of Davao Region that Davao City be placed under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) from June 5 to 20. The MECQ will limit movement of persons, services, work, and transportation.
“We should not take it for granted. This signifies high community transmission because of the surge,” Lopez said.
Based on the local government unit risk assessment, Davao City has been categorized as moderate risk with medium growth. The city has classified 12 barangays under critical risk and 32 others as high risk.
With the rise in cases, the city government is continuing its vaccination rollout for Davao residents which started in April. The city has opened Azuela Cove to cater 1,000 people for its vaccination program in addition to the 21 vaccination sites in the city.
The city has provided three COVID vaccine brands – Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Private hospitals have also been rolling out Pfizer vaccines for elderlies.
