DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte said Tuesday that four out of the 464 vendors of Agdao Public Market failed the screening and rapid tests conducted by the City Health Office (CHO) on Monday.
Vendors of Agdao Public Market, one of the biggest markets in the city, were tested on Monday after six persons tested positive of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) were believed to have been exposed to the virus in the market.
In a radio interview, Mayor Sara said four vendors were referred to Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) for swab tests.
“Our health screening is not only on rapid diagnostic tests, but the vendors were also checked if they have a cough, colds, and travel or contact history on Covid-19,” Sara said.
The market was ordered temporarily closed for seven days beginning on Saturday (May 23) for disinfection and case-finding.
According to the Covid-19 risk assessment in Davao City, Agdao Public Market is classified as a high-risk area as it is located within Barangay Agdao Proper where Covid-19 cases are high.
On the other hand, Mayor Sara confirmed that the city has an additional 20 Covid-19 cases as of Tuesday, attributing the new infections to the less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) measures imposed on the city.
“We will really expect increasing cases since we are accepting people coming to the city. The doctors also said that a surge of cases will be expected next week and in the second week of June,” she said.
However, Duterte assured that the city is fast-tracking the case-finding and contact-tracing, as well as intensifying the health screening of returning residents.
She added that the city has limited the testing as it prioritized only those people with symptoms and exposure on Covid-19.
“Hopefully, the donated PCR machine will be operational so that we can increase our test up to 1,000 per day,” Duterte said. -PNA
