Navotas City turns freight containers into isolation rooms

MANILA, Philippines — With its two quarantine facilities at full capacity, the Navotas City government has started converting freight containers into isolation units for new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients who have either mild symptoms or none at all.

According to Mayor Toby Tiangco, the Department of Public Works and Highways has provided 30 freight containers that are being turned into 120 additional air-conditioned isolation units at the Navotas Centennial Park on C-4 Road.

“After our two isolation facilities reached full capacity, we requested additional units from the national government … They will also be in charge of construction,” Tiangco said.

Once completed in October, the new quarantine quarters will put at 330 the city’s combined total bed capacity for asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients.

Tiangco clarified that city schools could not be used as makeshift quarantine quarters since there was some uncertainty over when classes would resume.

Irish Cubillan, city public information office chief, said the city government would shoulder the food of patients, maintenance and utilities, including the pay of people tasked to manage the facilities.14-day lockdownLast month, Tiangco placed Navotas under a 14-day lockdown after the city health office recorded the highest daily tally of coronavirus cases since Metro Manila transitioned to general community quarantine (GCQ).

“We will just follow the GCQ policies unless we observe that residents are out of control, not following protocols, or if the number of cases increase. But we are hopeful that this will no longer happen,” he said.

According to Tiangco, the city recorded a lower COVID-19 positivity rate during the localized lockdown in July than when Metro Manila was under GCQ.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the city health office had recorded 3,810 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 110 fatalities and 2,600 recoveries.