Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced on Friday afternoon that Davao City is among 37 areas in the country placed under alert level 4, which means that the risk classification is moderate to critical and the bed utilization rate for Covid-19 is more than 70 percent.
To address the increasing case data of Covid-19 and high hospital utilization rates, the Department of Health (DOH) recommended the following: granular lockdowns; active case finding for areas with local Delta variant cases (rapid antigen test can be utilized); urgently increase hospital beds especially ICU beds of Levels 2 and 3 hospitals; ensure oxygen are available; severe and critical must be immediately and properly referred; and healthcare capacity issues must not only be addressed on Local Government Unit (LGU) level but on a regional and national level as well.
On the other hand, when asked if there is a need to place Davao City to stricter quarantine status following the pronouncement of Vergeire, Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force, reiterated Davao City is still at General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions status and should there be changes will be announced to the public.
“As of the moment, the LGU of Davao is at the GCQ with heightened surveillance quarantine status. Should there be any changes to it on the upcoming days, rest assured that it will be announced to the public po,” Schlosser told Edge Davao.
Meanwhile, based on the Regional Situation Update on COVID-19 in Davao Region, DOH Davao Center for Health Development reported as of 5 p.m. of August 06, 2021, there were 334 new cases of Covid-19 in Davao Region bringing the total number of active cases to 6,602.
Of these new cases, 163 were from Davao City, 35 from Davao de Oro, 17 from Davao del Norte, 48 from Davao del Sur, 22 from Davao Occidental, and 49 from Davao Oriental.
DOH-Davao also reported that there were 370 recoveries and among these, 60 were from Davao City, 52 from Davao de Oro, 229 from Davao del Norte, 2 from Davao del Sur, and 27 from Davao Oriental.
There were 12 death cases reported and among these, four were from Davao City, one from Davao del Sur, four from Davao del Norte, two from Davao de Oro and one from Davao Oriental.
All cases reported were local cases and with these cases, Davao Region has 36.6 percent available ICU beds, 46.7 percent available isolation beds, 29.9 percent available ward beds, and 50 percent available mechanical ventilators.
