DAVAO CITY—The COVID-19 fatality count in the Davao region grew by four on Tuesday (July 14) when 45 new cases were also reported.
In a report, the Department of Health (DOH) said two of the latest fatalities were from Davao City and the other two were from the provinces of Davao Oriental and Davao de Oro.
Of the region’s 45 new cases, 38 were from Davao City, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown, two from Davao de Oro, two from Davao Oriental and one from Davao del Norte.
The DOH said it’s still being checked which of the new patients were stranded persons or overseas Filipino workers returning to their hometowns in Davao.
Since the outbreak, local health workers had documented 818 cases in the Davao region with 39 fatalities.
More than half of COVID-19 cases in the region are in Davao City which has a total of 600 cases and 32 deaths.
Mayor Sara Duterte on Monday disclosed that the national Inter-Agency Task Force recommended that the city be reverted to general community quarantine from the present modified general community quarantine.
Duterte said that the local government will appeal to the IATF to reconsider the reclassification of Davao City and the final decision will be known on Wednesday (July 15).
Despite the appeal, the local government explained that the lifting of restrictions is one of the reasons for the new cases especially after more residents were allowed to leave their homes to work as establishments were allowed to operate again.
The city government urged residents to faithfully comply with health protocols while there is no vaccine yet for SARS Cov2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
TSB