MANILA, Philippines — There are enough isolation facilities for COVID-19-infected patients with available over 120,000 COVID-19 beds in quarantine centers in the country, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Friday.
“Sa ngayon, ang ating total quarantine facilities all over the country umaabot na about 120,000 beds ‘yan. Hindi natin napupuno yan kahit na dito sa Metro Manila, hindi natin napupuno yung quarantine natin,” he said in an ambush interview with reporters at the Taguig Mega COVID-19 facility.
(For now, our total quarantine facilities all over the country reached about 120,000 beds. These are not fully occupied even if we are in Metro Manila. These quarantine facilities are never full.)
“Ang dami pang bakante, meron pa tayong hotels, meron pa tayong mga inns, meron pa tayong mga resorts. We will utilize all of them tutal kikita rin naman ‘yan. Industry pa rin yan,” he added.
(There are many vacant facilities, we have hotels, inns, resorts. We still have more alternatives. We will utilize all of them because these industries will earn money.)
Año also cited enough space for patients as beds in quarantine facilities in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon are only about 60 percent occupied.
“Hindi ko namomonitor sa provinces but dito sa NCR (National Capital Region), Region 3, and Region 4A, mga around 60 percent yung ating utilization so ibig sabihin marami pa tayong bakante kasi every 14 days may guma-graduate,” he said.
(I have not yet monitored the provinces but here in NCR, Region 3, and Region 4A, are around 60 percent utilized so it means we have more vacant beds because every 14 days a patient is graduating from quarantine.)
The government currently implements the Oplan Kalinga program to go house-to-house to fetch virus patients with mild symptoms or asymptomatic to undertake strict quarantine at isolation centers.
As of Friday, total COVID-19 cases reached 299,361 nationwide with includes 232,399 recoveries and 5,196 deaths.