Around 100 sidewalk vendors in Davao undergo swab tests
DAVAO CITY – Around 100 sidewalk vendors in San Pedro street here were tested during the surveillance swabbing conducted by the City Health Office on Monday, April 19.
In a statement on Tuesday, April 20 the city government said vendors around Ramon Magsaysay Street, Monteverde Avenue, Magsaysay Park, and Quezon Boulevard were also tested.
“Since its implementation on March 31 this year, the city government has conducted several surveillance swabbing activities in strategic areas within Davao City, including business and commercial establishments, private and government offices, public markets, places of worship, detention facilities, and among others,” it said.
“Over 3,000 individuals have voluntarily undergone the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in the identified areas in the city since the start of the community testing,” it added.
The swab testing for the sidewalk vendors in San Pedro street were conducted in front of the City Hall. The city government said it targets to test “at least 1,000 individuals per day.”
As of April 20, Davao City has 400 active cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The city has recorded a total of 14,284 cases with 13,200 recoveries and 684 deaths.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has directed the city’s COVID-19 Response Cluster to closely monitor areas where most people converge and are deemed high-risk by health authorities.
“We are trying to look for the COVID-19 cases dinha sa atong mga communities, so that makuha dayon nato sila for isolation kung positive sila (We are trying to look for the COVID-19 cases in our communities so that we can immediately isolate them if they tested positive),” Duterte said.