THE DAVAO City government is targeting bank and other private sector workers in its ongoing surveillance testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“The private companies and banks requested to be included as this is a free swab testing,” Ashley G. Lopez, acting head of the City Health Office and focal person of the city’s COVID-19 task force, said Wednesday over the local public radio.
Surveillance testing was started earlier this month by the city government, covering high-risk populations such as those working in public markets and street stalls, public transport drivers, and delivery service riders.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, in a live radio broadcast earlier this week, said the COVID-19 task force already has a list of sectors and groups for the targeted testing, which is intended to identify positive cases and immediately undertake isolation and treatment procedures.
The city saw a surge in cases in the last quarter of 2020 up to the early part of this year, with active cases hitting above 1,000.
As of April 27, there were 272 active cases out of the 14,391 total recorded since the start of the pandemic, based on Department of Health data.
Of the total, 13,434 recovered while 685 died. — Maya M. Padillo