DAVAO CITY, Nov. 30 (PIA) - Starting tomorrow (Dec. 1), an Aggressive Community Testing (ACT) will be implemented in several barangays in Davao City which are considered as COVID-19 hotspots.
“Ito pong Aggressive Community Testing is a rapid and intensive COVID-19 testing and intervention na ginagawa sa mga high-prevalent areas and sa mga areas na significant yung pagdami ng kaso in a short period of time,” Department of Health Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama said during this morning’s One Davao on COVID-19 virtual presser.
“All we want to do is to immediately contain the spread of virus and break the chain of transmission by testing, testing, testing, this is the backbone of our response, “Dumama added.
Meanwhile, the Aggressive Community Testing Focal Person for Davao City Dr. Evelino Buenaventura of the City Health Office said the basis for selecting the barangays where ACT will be implemented are areas with high cases of COVID-19.
“In Davao City we have 18 health districts, we clustered the health districts to cover barangays with high cases,” Dr. Buenaventura said.
Aside from targeting barangays with high number of COVID cases, it also included all areas with cases of COVID-19.
Dr. Buenaventura has bared the initial schedule of the ACT implementation in Davao City.
ACT will be held from December 1-3. For December 1, the sites will be at Talomo Central District which will be held at the Shanghai Gym, then Toril A and B cluster which will be done at the Toril Health Center, then on Dec. 2, ACT will be implemented at Talomo South at the Central Park Gym, Talomo North at SIR Phase 2 Gym, District A the third site for Dec. 2 will be at Bankerohan Gym.
For December 3 the sites will be at Tugbok at Mintal Gym and Buhangin District at Bunhangin Proper Gym, District B at El Rio and in Bunawan at Barangay Ilang Gym.
“We can cover Davao City within three days,” Dr. Buenaventura said.
For every barangay where the ACT will be implemented, identified individuals for swabbing will be fetched at their houses by designated transport vehicles from the Rapid Action Team (RAT) or designated barangay vehicles. These individuals to be tested will line up at the swabbing area to wait for the assessment, information like body temperature will be taken then they will line up for actual swabbing. After the process, they will then be returned thru the RAT or designated barangay vehicles to designated quarantine facilities or their own homes.
The tested persons will have to strictly follow quarantine protocols while waiting for the test result.
If tested positive for COVID-19, they will be fetched by RAT and will be brought to quarantine facilities, where they will observe protocols.
“I would like to reiterate that no positive individual shall be quarantined at their homes,” Dr. Buenaventura said.
Usec. Dumama said the National Task Force on COVID-19 is targeting 10,000 individuals from across the Davao Region for the Dec. 1-3. Aside from Davao City, the ACT will also be implemented in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte then in Davao del Sur (Digos City and Sta. Cruz) and Davao del Norte (Tagum City, Panabo, Kapalong, Island Garden City of Samal).
“These are identified upon the recommendation of the provincial health office, the municipal health officer and the city health officer,” Usec. Dumama said. (PIA/RG Alama)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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