Cebu City mayor confident to do 3K daily Covid-19 tests

MAYOR  EDGARDO  Labella on Thursday expressed optimism that the city government can reach the "maximum ideal" of 3,000 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) tests per day.  

Through the commitment of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to bring more kits here, Labella said they can achieve the ideal number of tests per day, which will enable them to see the concentration of the coronavirus in the city.

The city government “has also organized 18 contact tracing teams to help with aggressive containment measures against the spread of the virus," Labella said in a statement.

He thanked the Department of Health (DOH) for helping the city in acquiring more testing kits as promised by the IATF.

During Wednesday’s IATF meeting in Mandaue City, Labella told Cabinet secretaries that they have started training contact tracers last Tuesday.

“As I have said, the more important aspect of fighting against Covid-19 is contact tracing and, of course, after contact tracing are isolation and treatment,” he said.

The mayor also committed to boost the management of the barangay isolation centers (BIC) and the primary patient care centers like the Cebu City Quarantine Center, Sacred Heart School Bayanihan Field Center, International Eucharistic Congress Pavilion Bayanihan Field Center, and the NOAH Isolation Facility at the South Road Properties.

This, he said, is to prevent suspected Covid-19 patients from swarming the hospitals.

National Action Plan on COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio Dizon cited the need for the city to boost the testing capacity to up to 6,000 tests per day, saying that only a sixth of that is being done here.

“The fight against Covid is not just the fight of the national government and the LGU (local government units). Each citizen has a much bigger role to play. So let’s rally every Cebuano to do their part,” he pointed out during the IATF virtual presser on Wednesday.

Dizon also said that there is a need to assist the city to overcome the pandemic because it is the center of economic activity in the whole of Cebu province and the second throughout the country. (By John Rey Saavedra)