More COVID-19 quarantine facilities eyed in Cebu City

MANILA, Philippines— The government is planning to put up more quarantine facilities in Cebu City due to the rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Monday.

“This Wednesday, several members of the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Managing of Emerging Infectious Diseases] will be going to Cebu City again together with [Department of Public Works and Highways] Secretary Mark Villar to look for more sites where we can put isolation or quarantine facilities,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in an interview on ANC.

Año noted that many of the COVID-19 infections in Cebu City were caused by patients positive of the virus under home quarantine.

“We took note that most of the infection in the community was because many of our positive patients are undergoing just home quarantine,” Año said.

“You cannot be assured of those patients if they are observing the proper protocols of home quarantine. Better to extract them out of the community to ensure the safety of the families and of the neighborhood,” added Año.

“Just like what we are doing here in Metro Manila, we built a lot of mega treatment and isolation facilities so we are able to separate immediately those who are positive, mild and asymptomatic patients.”

Cebu City is under the strictest lockdown measure or enhanced community quarantine until June 30.

The city has so far recorded at least 4,900 COVID-19 cases.

Nationwide, there are over 35,000 COVID-19 cases.

One thousand two hundred forty four patients have died while 9,686 others have recovered.

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