DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The City Government of Davao has placed Barangay 23-C, known as Mini-Forest Boulevard, under “hard lockdown” for a minimum of 14 days starting July 4, following an increase of Covid-19 cases among its residents.
The Davao City Operations Center for Covid-19 placed Brgy 23-C as “very high risk” with a total of 88 cases of infection with two deaths, including 17 residents who tested positive from June 28-July 3.
The oldest patient is 75 years old while the youngest is a 25-day old infant.
“The doctors have seen the fast transmission of the disease and a high number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. We do not want them to go out and bring the disease outside of their barangay,” said Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Davao City Health Office Chief Dr. Joy Villafuerte said that under the lockdown, there will be restriction in the movement of people and implementation of protocols for the more than 18,000 residents in Brgy. 23-C.
The Davao City Social Welfare and Development Office has delivered 6,266 grocery packs to targeted beneficiaries in the barangay, and plans to provide two cycles of food packs distribution.
Duterte explained the factors why the city government decided on the barangay lockdown was the difficulty of the barangay officials to enforce the safety protocols particularly the wearing of masks in public.
With this situation, the city government is developing information materials on Covid-19 that will hurdle communication barriers among the residents. Brgy. 23-C has Moro and Badjao residents.
“We try to make our campaign easier to understand by the general public, but there are cases of people who do not understand the need of wearing a mask,” the city mayor said.
The city has brought Covid-19 swab testing to the area and placed Covid-19 positive individuals to quarantine facilities.
Barangay 23-C by the City Government as “hotspots” or very high risk areas” along with Agdao Proper and Leon Garcia has been categorized in its barangay classification and risk assessment formula for July 5-10. (davaotoday.com)
