Davao City steps up ‘contact tracing’ vs Covid-19

The Davao City government has stepped up contact tracing of people who have been exposed to patients positive of the coronavirus to control further spread of the disease in the city.

Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte said the city government’s contact tracing is already on a third level. Contact tracing is a laborious process but a core measure to control the further spread of the coronavirus.

“Importante ni because we need to know kung kinsa dapat ang i-test sa ilaha, and we need to orient them kung unsa ilahang dapat buhaton which is strict isolation meaning dili gyud sila makaduol ug laing tao (This is important because we need to know who needs to be tested and we need to orient them on what they need to do which is strict isolation, meaning they must not go near anyone),” Mayor Sara said.

The city government has been conducting random testing in certain areas in the city.

On Friday, city government teams conducted random testing in Bankerohan, Buhangin, and areas adjacent to Barangay 21 and Barangay 23.

“Unsa may buhaton kung makitan nila kung dunay mga positive? Kinahanglan kuhaon, kinahanglan pangitaon ang ilahang mga contact napud (contact tracing). From there on, i-decide pud sa mga doctors kung kinahanglan i-lockdown – meaning walay makagawas sa ilaha (What will happen if the team found positive cases? Those persons will be asked to come, to find the people they had contact with, and from there on, the doctors will decide whether to undergo a lockdown – meaning no one, from those people, can go out),” she added.

Mayor Sara said there are three teams deployed to do the random testing.

Recall that after the city government teams found positive cases, Mayor Sara immediately approved lockdowns of areas with positive cases. The lockdowns were either a certain street, household, or puroks depending on the situation.

Currently, 16 various areas have been locked down, and 16 security teams were deployed to guard each area.

And, as the city intensifies contact tracing, it is also pursuing the establishment of laboratories for coronavirus to speed up the testing process and more testing can be done.

The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is currently the only medical facility recognized by the National Reference Laboratory as a satellite laboratory in Mindanao. SPMC can only accommodate 80 samples per day. CIO