MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Thursday that at least 28 state universities and colleges (SUCs) nationwide have so far been used as temporary treatment and isolation facilities amid the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CHED chairman Prospero de Vera III, the SUCs that were converted into quarantine facilities were able to house around 20,000 people including asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, suspected coronavirus patients, and locally stranded individuals.
“Ito’y sinimulan natin nung June at tuluy-tuloy ito hangga’t kailangan ng mga local governments ‘yung mga pasilidad ng mga state universities,” De Vera said in a televised Palace press briefing.
He added that CHED’s grants to SUCs to make masks and disinfectants and to provide psychological support for students and faculties will likewise continue.
The Department of Education earlier allowed the use of half of the classrooms in all public schools in Metro Manila to be converted into quarantine facilities amid the continuous increase in COVID-19 infections in the country.
To date, there are 202,361 confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide, including 133,460 recoveries and 3,137 deaths.