The NOAH isolation facility at the South Road Properties. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—After a year since it was unveiled, the New Oasis for Adaptation and a Home (NOAH) Complex in the South Road Properties (SRP) will be closing for good.
The primary isolation facility of the city for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) isolated patients will be closing on May 30, 2021, according to Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella.
Labella said the contract with BigFoot, the owner of the building on a city-owned lot at the SRP, wishes to take back their studio after a year of allowing the city to use the property.
Read: Cebu City’s NOAH Complex officially unveiled
Labella thanked BigFoot for allowing the city to use the studio as a facility to serve thousands of patients and where over 20 babies were born in the past year.
Lawyer Jocelyn Pesquera, the manager of NOAH, said they no longer accepted isolating patients since May 5, and only the birthing center remains operational.
On May 18, this birthing center will also close down as the city prepares to take down the facility.
On May 30, the city will turn over the property back to BigFoot, officially closing down the site.
“We have an extension facility nearby nga atong (that we are) slowly developing into another isolation site,” said Pesquera.
The birthing center for COVID-19 positive mothers will also be moved to the said extension once the equipment are set and transferred.
Read: NOAH Complex to be used as isolation center for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients
Mayor Labella said that even if the NOAH Complex will close down, the public need not worry.
He said that the Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC) and hotel facilities are still available.
“Wa man ta na-overwhelm. Tulo nalang gani etong Barangay Isolation Centers kay gamay nalang og gi-isolate. You know, we have a lot of hotels for isolation. Wa gyod ta na-overwhelm,” said the mayor.
(We are not overwhelmed. There are even just three barangay isolation centers because there are less being isolated. You know we have lot of hotels for isolation. We really are not overwhelmed.)
The mayor said that should there be any rise in the number of cases, the extension facility at SRP will be ready to accommodate patients.
/bmjo