Metro Manila quarantine facilities nearly 62% occupied, says isolation czar Villar

MANILA, Philippines — Quarantine facilities in Metro Manila are now nearly 62 percent occupied, Public Works Secretary and isolation czar Mark Villar said Tuesday.

During the online meeting of the House committee on health, Villar said they are constantly monitoring the situation, particularly with occupancy, in the quarantine facilities in the country.

“The one area that we have a very large, high occupancy rate is in NCR (National Capital Region) which is at 61.8 percent. What we’re doing now is we are releasing the fifth batch of these quarantine facilities with the focus on NCR,” Villar said.

Villar said that as of March 30, there are 635 quarantine facilities with a total bed capacity of 23,421.

The government is aiming to increase this to 720 facilities with a total bed capacity of 26,099 by next month, Villar added.

The country’s new COVID-19 cases for Monday breached the 10,000-mark for the first time ever, bringing the number of active infections to 115,495.

The COVID-19 bulletin from the Department of Health (DOH) showed there were 10,016 new infections on Monday, setting a new high for single-day increases since the pandemic arrived in the Philippines.

JE