Dr. Ashley Lopez, OIC of the Davao City health office, said that the city’s quarantine rules are enough for now even with the increase in COVID-19 cases in the area.
“For now, I think sufficient naman po yung aming restrictions,” said the local health office chief when asked whether he will be recommending stricter restrictions for the locality.
The city of Davao is currently under general community quarantine until the end of May. Lopez said that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio recently issued Executive Order No. 29, adopting additional restrictions on the area’s land, air and sea travel borders as recommended by the regional IATF.
“We have in fact recalled yung ating RT-PCR tests among our travelers particularly those coming outside Davao region,” he added.
Davao City is one of the areas outside the National Capital Region which has been flagged by independent research group OCTA due to rising COVID-19 infections over the past week. Lopez noted they observed a spike in cases since the start of May compared to previous months, with the city currently tallying around 719 active cases out of the 15,000 listed since the onset of the pandemic.
He further clarified that most of their cases of coronavirus came from local transmission, attributing the increase “partly” to “heightened surveillance and contact tracing” efforts.
Lopez likewise cited their increased testing capacity, with Davao’s COVID-19 tests averaging between 2,000 and 2,500 per day from the 500 to 600 average at the start of 2021.
