The City Government of Davao is preparing for a possible spike of COVID-19 cases due to Christmas and New Year gatherings. “We were already told to prepare for a surge during the early part of December because of the gatherings of hard-headed people holding parties during the Christmas holidays. We have prepared our facilities,” Mayor Sara Duterte said.

However, she assured the city government has enough patient care centers to cater to patients should the cases rise further.

To date, the city government’s isolation facilities for probable and suspect cases, along with the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) for Covid-19 positive cases have 1,284 available beds out of 2,194.

Dr. Ashley Lopez, Focal Person of the City’s Covid-19 Task Force said that a surge of cases will happen if the number of positive cases in the city reaches up to 110 cases per day.

The latest data released by the Department of Health (DOH) showed that 60 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded as of December 28 which showed an increase from 42 that was recorded on December 27.

Lopez said the city should not be complacent. “For now, I would say that based on the data that I presented, there is still no surge because we have less than 100 cases per day. But we cannot be lax because there is still New Year’s Eve coming. Experts said that the surge will come on the incubation period of the virus or the post-holiday season, after New Year,” he said.

The city government and health authorities continue to remind Dabawenyos to constantly follow the health protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease such as the wearing of face masks, face shield, physical distancing, and frequent hand washing or using alcohol-based hand rub.