Wearing of face mask remains mandatory in this city, a health official said Friday.

“We are still imposing the mandatory wearing of face mask because it is what is stated under our city ordinance, unlike other provinces and cities they do not have an ordinance,” said Dr. Ashley Lopez, the City Health Office (CHO acting chief.

Lopez issued the response amid reports that the national government is considering proposals for the non-wearing of face masks outdoors.

“Davao City is unique because we have this ordinance to follow and impose,” he said.

Since January, the city has implemented Ordinance No. 0307-20 otherwise known as the face mask measure.

To date, the city police office has already nabbed 10,147 violators so far, with only 2,861 managed to pay the penalties.

Based on the ordinance, Dabawenyos caught not wearing a face mask in a public place are fined PHP500 for the first offense, PHP2,000 for the second offense, and PHP5,000, or month-long imprisonment for the third offense.

Mayor Sebastian Duterte has also earlier urged the public to continue following the minimum public health standards as the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 remains.

As of Sept. 7, data from CHO showed that the city has recorded 114 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total active cases here to 610.

Lopez noted though that the cases in the city remain “very manageable” as 96 percent of the cases are classified as asymptomatic or mild.

“That means that we do not have to worry about hospitalizations. The utilization rate of our hospitals is quite low, around 30 percent,” he said.

He added that they have not detected any post-Kadayawan festival surge as cases have plateaued.

The seven-day moving average in the city remains at 76 cases per day.

“This is quite a lot of cases, but our growth curve has plateaued. We are having this for the past seven weeks already,” Lopez said.

He pointed out that it is 14 days since the culmination of the Kadayawan and any impact should have been felt by now. (PNA)