Mandaue ramps up contact tracing capabilities

CEBU, Philippines —  Some 37 individuals have been added to Mandaue City’s contract tracing teams as the city ramps up its tracing capabilities as part of efforts to fight the spread of coronavirus.

The 37 comprised the first batch of contact tracers who were trained by the Mandaue City Contact Tracing Team led by Atty. Julius Entise, who served as an infection control nurse prior to becoming a lawyer.

The Mandaue City Public Information Office said that through continuous capacity building, the city aims to strengthen its contact tracing capabilities as one of the approaches to effectively handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newly trained contact tracers will be going around the city this week to track all possible contacts of COVID-19 positive patients.

Data from the Department of Health-7 showed that as of August 9, the city has 2,067 total confirmed cases. Out of that number, 1,052 were recovered already.

The city has a total of 74 deaths with zero death on August 9. It has a total active cases of 941 with four new cases then.

It can be recalled that last July 29, the city reported more recoveries than active cases, as the city's oldest COVID-19 patient had also recovered.

PIO said that the city recorded 157 recoveries on July 29, the highest number of recoveries recorded in a day so far.

Also, the recent recovery of 91-year-old Engr. Zoilo Cortes Sr. makes him as the city's oldest COVID-19 survivor, the office reported. Cortes is a scion of the Cortes clan of Mandaue City and the uncle of Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Engr. Cortes was infected with the COVID-19 virus last month and spent three weeks at a private hospital with mild symptoms.

He was discharged last July 2, having fully recovered from the disease, just in time to celebrate his birthday last August 1.

Isolation center

Meanwhile, Mandaue City Executive secretary Atty. John Eddu Ybañez said that the isolation center located at the old site of North Bus Terminal in Barangay Subangdaku is expected to be finished by the end of the month.

This is in preparation for the transfer of the current isolation center located at the Mandaue City Central School in Barangay Centro.

Ybañez said that the isolation center, which is being constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highway, can accommodate 64 patients (Phase 1) and an additional 48 patients (Phase 2).

However, Ybañez said it can accommodate up to 150 patients if expanded. — JMD (FREEMAN)