DAVAO CITY, August 8 (PIA) - The City Government of Davao has intensified the staying home campaign and the campaign to observe the three basic health protocols to minimize the COVID-19 infection in the city.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio bared that starting from her backyard, a memorandum order has been issued to 12,000 employees of the City Hall, requiring them to wear stay home T-shirt with three basic health protocols from Monday to Thursday.

"We will ask everyone of them to act as walking billboards to spread the need to stay home and to comply the health protocols until further notice," she said.

Duterte-Carpio noted that aside from staying home, wearing of face masks in public, physical distancing, and washing of hands with soap and water are the basic protocols that the doctors guarantee will lower down the COVID-19 cases in Davao City.

As of the latest count, Davao City has a total of 1,002 total confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic was declared in March 15 with 54 deaths and 700 persons totally recovered from the disease.

Currently, the Southern Philippines Medical Center has admitted a total of 320 persons where 150 being confined in the hospital while 170 are at the COVID-19 facilities in the city. There are also 248 total COVID-19 total positive cases right now.

Duterte-Carpio revealed that contact tracing also poses a big challenge to the city because many respondents are very uncooperative.

The city currently has a total of 282 contact tracers.

"Many respondents leave us their names and telephone numbers but no longer respond when being called," she said.

Duterte-Carpio said no sea of people has been seen following the relaxing of the food and medicine pass and curfew hour.

However, physical distancing is wanting.

She said it is the reason that police authorities are required to bring one-meter sticks to ensure compliance to the physical distancing. (PIA XI-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)