47K Cebuanos up for Covid-19 testing to prepare for GCQ

CEBU CITY – In a bid to transition key cities in Metro Cebu from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ), some 46,895 individuals in three cities will be subjected to a strategic testing to come up with scientific basis in deciding the measures after May 15.

“This program aims to identify the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease) cases in the three cities at the community level as well as to effectively (place in) cohort the individuals in order to impede the transmission of the virus,” said Dr. Jaime Bernadas, Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas regional director, during a press briefing dubbed as “Project Balik Buhay” organized by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino.

Bernadas said this systematic testing at the barangay level in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu will use Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved rapid test kits as a conduit to PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing method.

Apart from this, Barangay Isolation Centers (BIC) in public schools across the three cities will be established to receive Covid-19 patients along with the old Sacred Heart School Bayanihan Field Center, the International Eucharistic Congress Bayanihan Field Center and the Cebu City Quarantine Center at the North Reclamation Area.

Bernadas said the 46,895 individuals represent 10 percent of the total number of households per barangay of every city to undergo rapid diagnostic test (RDT).

In an effort to come up with evidenced-based, data-driven basis, he said “33 teams composed of nurses and medical technologists will be deployed to conduct sample collections at the barangay” with the help of village health workers and barangay health emergency response teams.

These samples, Bernadas said, will be sent to the “partner laboratories” to be tested using RDTs.

“While waiting for the results, the ones tested will be advised to remain at home. Once the results are available, we will now determine whether the individuals tested will need to be subjected to confirmatory testing using the PCR test,” he said.

According to Bernadas, those with IgM (immunoglobulin) positive result will be subjected to confirmatory PCR testing. While the test is done, the patient will be advised to stay at home “and must not go out for any reason save for an emergency”.

If the PCR test turns positive, the patient will be transferred to the BIC for isolation and monitoring and will remain there if he is asymptomatic until he returns a negative test result on his next testing schedule.

If the patient develops symptoms, Bernadas said the patient will then be transferred to a patient care center or hospital depending on the severity of his symptoms and the level of care the person needs.

Dino said a series of meetings was conducted to come up with a carefully crafted science-based in transitioning from ECQ to GCQ.

“We are doing this in the tri-city as these are thickly populated (about 1.8 million). Being highly urbanized cities, it comprises about 80 percent of the economy in the island of Cebu and these cities are contiguous where cross-border trade-related activities transpire,” Dino said during the briefing.

The LGUs were able to come up with a handbook in implementing the transition, which Dino said, is aligned with the Republic Act 11469, the "Bayanihan to Heal as One Act".

He said he communicated the plan to President Rodrigo Duterte through Senator Christopher Lawrence Go.

Mayor Edgardo Labella of this city described the action in the fight against Covid-19 as "a study that is calibrated, scientific, evidence-based, and data driven".

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes also emphasized the importance of the cooperation between local government units and agencies in containing the coronavirus.

"We are sure that we will succeed in fighting this war against Covid-19 because we will work as one and therefore, we will heal as one," Mayor Junard Chan of Lapu-Lapu City said. (PNA)