DUMAGUETE City’s local team managing the coronavirus pandemic has asked the Education department to allow more schools to be used as isolation facilities as cases continue to increase.
The local government said it has also asked the city’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) task force to plan additional measures “to regulate the entry of non-residents… with extensive consultations of all stakeholders.”
Under existing policies, those entering the city must have a negative RT-PCR test result and prior registration with the local government.
As of June 6, the city had 357 active COVID-19 cases, more than double the 127 recorded as of May 15. Total cases since the start of the pandemic in March last year was 1,277 with 879 recoveries and 45 deaths.
Towards the end of May this year, health authorities launched a massive swabbing activity to identify and isolate close contacts of new patients.
“About 5, 000 close contacts of COVID-19 confirmed cases, at 500 a day both symptomatic and asymptomatic, are targeted for RT-PCR swab tests in the next 2 weeks by the teams from the City Health Office, Integrated Provincial Health Office and Department of Health,” the local government said on May 31.
“The massive swab testing is necessary to help authorities promptly identify, isolate and treat those who will be found positive of the virus, which is a strategy to methodically bring down the surge of COVID-19 cases,” it added.