DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Local health authorities announced last week that the coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are on a downtrend in February, which prompted them to close some of the treatment facilities to lessen costs.
Dr. Ashley Lopez, Davao City COVID-19 focal person, Dr. Ashley Lopez, Davao City COVID-19 focal person, in a radio interview with DXQQ Disaster Radio 87.5 FM earlier last week, that the occupancy rate of the city’s temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF), including hotels, has been only at about 19-23 percent in the past two weeks.
One facility, the Doña Carmen Central Elementary School, registered zero occupancy in the past week.)
The city has 17 facilities with a 2,194 bed-capacity.
COVID-19 cases surged over the Christmas holidays to as high as 1,300 active cases in January. But as of February 23, Davao City has 748 active cases. The city had totaled 12,832 cases with 11,458 recoveries and 626 deaths.
Lopez said that some of the facilities will be suspended temporarily to cut down costs, including the use of one hotel, and its staff will be re-assigned to other facilities.
“No patients had to be admitted there… thus we decided to temporarily suspend [it] so that the personnel assigned there can be utilized to other facilities here in Davao,” he said.
Davao de Oro has its own molecular lab
Davao de Oro announced that its own laboratory for COVID-19 testing located at Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital in Montevista (DDOPH) has been approved by the Department of Health and has started operation on February 28.
Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy posted this announcement on his social media account that the facility has already received a certificate to conduct reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
The facility was built through the partnership with the Department of Science and Technology-Davao Region (DOST-Davao) and the Philippine Genome Center of the University of the Philippines-Mindanao (UP-Min), who both trained its personnel.
Uy said the budget for the facility was sourced through shares from the government’s Bayanihan Fund and its equipment was sourced from abroad. The amount for the facility has not been disclosed.
Davao de Oro has recorded total COVID-19 cases of 1,139 since the start of the pandemic last year, with 990 recoveries and 27 deaths. (davaotoday.com)
covid-19, davao city, pandemic
