DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Despite the cases of COVID-19 transmission now reaching 1,605 active cases, Davao City’s COVID-19 Focal Person says this is “still not in the alarming stage”.
Speaking at the press briefing of the Department of Health Region 11 on Friday, focal person Dr. Ashley Lopez explained that this surge of cases is due to two temporary situations: the non-compliance of health protocols among Davawenyos, and the effort for massive testing that yielded higher positive cases.
The surge of cases in the city started in mid-October, which Dr. Lopez said is the result of intensified contact tracing and case findings in communities that turned out to have a more positive second and third generation of COVID-19 cases.
These generations are considered as the undetected cases in the community due to “interactive activities” without observing the health protocol. They are also those individuals to have close contact with a positive case but manifested late symptoms.
Dr. Lopez said that the primary factor of the surge of COVID-19 cases is the rising number of tests conducted every day.
“From less than a hundred number of tests a day, Davao City now runs up to an average of 1,200 tests per day,” he said.
Other factors include the institutionalization of virus mitigation practices in workplaces which helped in finding employees or staff who might be suspect of COVID-19.
Davao has now 16 percent positivity rate which is “still pretty high” with 4,901 total cases since March this year up to November 12. The ideal positivity rate is 5 percent.
“This does not mean that we are not doing anything. It connotes that we need to test more and more people,” Dr. Lopez clarified.
The rise in cases has caused alarm to the Davao City community, as the city government has instilled measures such as curfew, liquor ban, and QR code for contact tracing and limiting movement of people. (davaotoday.com)
coronavirus, covid-19, Covid-19 in Davao City, COVID-19 situation in Davao, davao city, Department of Health, Mindanao, pandemic
