DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 May) – An increase in the number of confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to be seen in the next coming weeks, Mayor Sara Duterte said on Tuesday.
Training on laboratory techniques and procedures for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics at the University of the Philippines – Mindanao in Davao City. Photo courtesy of Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao
This she said during her the interview with the Davao City Disaster Radio, as the city government and health personnel have increased the number of persons being swabbed to be tested for COVID-19.
The city mayor said medical doctors foresee that the surge in the number of cases are likely to be observed by next week and within the second week of June.
“Because we increased the number of people being swabbed.
And then, we already have a protocol on who should be swabbed. It is either they are sent to SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Center) or they are swabbed here at our Tomas Monteverde health center,” Duterte said in the vernacular.
She noted that the implementation of general community quarantine (GCQ) is likely to be a factor that would contribute to the surge of positives in the city.
“That is the expectation that there will be an increase because of GCQ and it is important to immediately catch them. We will immediately find those who are positive and trace those who they came in contact with and then they will immediately be tested,” Duterte added.
She underscored that the increase in the number of COVID-19 positives in the city is not only because of the swabbing being conducted, but also because of the health screening processes being done in the city.
“That would include the RDT [Rapid Diagnostic Testing]. Anytime that we have a suspect or the symptoms look like COVID-19, they are directly subject for testing,” Duterte added.
She explained that it remains a challenge to identify individuals that have to be tested as those who came in close contact with COVID-19-positives still need to be traced.
“Those who were infected are likely to have infected others as well. That is why it is important that we hasten our testing and contact tracing so that if they tested positive, we can immediately find those that have contracted the virus,” Duterte said.
She added that the process will not be easy as there is the need to get the infected person’s history of interaction with other people within the last 14 days.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Department of Health-Davao has recorded 20 new positive cases, which brought the number to a total of 253 cases in Davao region. The agency bared that 18 of which are from Davao City, one from Davao del Sur, and one from Davao Occidental. (Warren Elijah E. Valdez / MindaNews)
