HEALTH screening in Davao City’s borders will soon be contactless as the City Government is installing thermal scanners at checkpoints.
Task Force (TF) Davao Commander Consolito Yecla said a thermal scanner was already installed at Lasang checkpoint on Tuesday, July 28, and other city checkpoints in Sirawan, Toril and Lacson in Calinan will also be installed soon.
Yecla said the newly installed scanner will be efficient in the city’s health screening procedure for all travelers entering as it will measure temperature with minimal body contact between TF personnel and travelers.
“This is to ensure that the implementation of our strict health protocols is fast and effective,” he said in a radio interview via 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
Yecla said the thermal scanner donated by Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte will be installed inside the repurposed container van with the x-ray baggage machine and walkthrough metal detector.
The security official said they had beefed up the security and health checkpoints in the city, as part of their measure to ensure that all arriving travelers are not manifesting any symptoms linked to coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
He said passengers who will manifest Covid-19 symptoms will be transported to the city’s testing facility.
Meanwhile, Yecla said TF Davao continues to intercept locally stranded individuals (LSIs) for bypassing the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) requirement by landing at different airports or traveling by land to return to or pass by Davao City.
As of Tuesday, July 28, TF Davao reported having intercepted a total of 175 LSIs at the three major entry points of the city – Lasang, Sirawan and Lacson.
Yecla said that of the 175, there are 87 residents in Davao City while the remaining 88 were just passing by for their destination provinces.
“Those who are residents of the city were escorted to the testing center for their swab tests while the non-residents were escorted toward the boundaries,” he said.
“We escorted them to the boundaries to ensure that they will not make a stop in the city, we treat everyone as a carrier so it will be vital if they make a stop,” he added.
On Wednesday, July 29, TF Davao also intercepted a person who failed the rapid diagnostic test in Trento, Agusan del Sur. The patient was immediately brought to the Southern Philippine Medical Center.
Yecla said some LSIs tried to sneak into the city after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio required for a negative RT-PCR test taken at least 72 hours before boarding their flights.
The order was later modified and testing is now being done as plane passengers leave the Francisco Bangoy International Airport, also known as Davao International Airport.
Yecla, meanwhile, reminded people not to travel if they are sick and to travel only when necessary.
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