CCQC to reopen on February 4

By: Delta Dyrecka Letigio - 3 years ago

The Cebu City Quarantine Center compound. | file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Quarantine Center will reopen for patients on February 4, 2022.

Mayor Michael Rama said that they will be blessing the compound again on Friday to mark its reopening after it was closed for some time when the COVID-19 cases in the city were down.

The CCQC is expected to house at least 200 patients at a time since it has a total bed capacity of 280, according to Lawyer Jerry Carillo, the chairperson for the City Disaster Council.

The facility was built in 2020 during the start of the pandemic by late Mayor Edgardo Labella to address the lack of quarantine and isolation space in the city.

Rama said the reopening of the CCQC should provide the additional beds the city needs for the temporary treatment and management facilities (TTMF) as the COVID-19 cases are still high.

The city currently has over 6,000 active cases as of February 1, 2022, but with only two Barangay Isolation Centers (BICs) including the City Central School, and Zapatera Elementary School.

The mayor had promised to open more quarantine centers including the CCQC at the North Reclamation Area (NRA), the NOAH Complex at the South Road Properties (SRP), and the IEC Convention Center (IC3).

“This is the month of love and it is by the love of the Cebuanos of the City of Cebu that we will reopen the CCQC this Friday,” said Rama.

IC3 Pavillion

Meanwhile, Rama said that the city government has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Archdiocese of Cebu for the use of the IC3 in Barangay Mabolo as a quarantine center.

“It is a done deal. This is an isolation center for all of Cebu Province. I will talk to the governor if they can provide us more manpower,” said Rama.

The city government is among those negotiating for the use of the IC3 after the Archdiocese and the Bayanihan Cebu Inc. (BCI) failed to reach an agreement over the use of the facility as an isolation center.

Rama said that Secretary Michael Dino, the Presidential Assistant to the Visayas, has spearheaded the negotiations between the city government, a private foundation, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMCC), and the archdiocese.

The VSMMC will be managing the IC3. /rcg