Despite the increasing rate of COVID-19 cases that are overwhelming hospitals and treatment centers in Davao City. Mayor Sara Duterte says there is still no possibility of placing the city under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).
Mayor Duterte made this position during her Special Hour program over Davao City Disaster Radio on Monday afternoon. She maintained that the city will remain under the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in accordance with the mandate of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
The recent data from the Department of Health Region 11 shows Davao City logging an additional 586 new cases, bringing up the total active cases to 6,712 as of September 5 with two new deaths on that day.
The city recorded a record high positivity rate of 30.5% of Davao City residents being swabbed for COVID-19 testing.
With such a high number of cases, the government’s Southern Philippine Medical Center (SPMC) is already in full occupancy and has catered patients more than the allotted bed capacity.
SPMC has allotted 475 beds for COVID-19 treatment, with additional; 92 intensive care unit beds, yet all these have been occupied, with more patients seen waiting in line for their admission.
The city’s treatment facilities with 3,084 bed capacity has seen a 65% occupancy, but health officials fear this will increase.
“Even atong TTMFs. We are at 65 percent, but there is expectation that it will fill up depending on sa turnover sa mga patients,” the mayor said.
The City Government of Davao assured that they will provide more TTMFs to address this problem, with the mayor saying 250 additional beds are coming for every TTMFs.
There is also a plan of extending the emergency room of SPMC to other locations as recommended by the IATF as part of contingency plan should COVID-19 cases continue to rise due to the presence of the highly transmissible delta variant.
