Iloilo City eyeing 3 modular hospitals as COVID-19 cases rise

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas. Photo from his Facebook page

ILOILO CITY—The city government is planning to put up modular hospitals amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said the city government is eyeing three modular hospitals with a total capacity of 66 beds and is seeking the assistance of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar.

The city currently has 1,500 isolation beds in schools, hotels and city government facilities.

“We will just prepare for the surge of cases brought about by the Delta variant,” Treñas said.

Nine barangays in the city were placed on lockdown on Wednesday due to Delta variant cases, a day after border restrictions were imposed amid a surge in cases in Western Visayas.

The city-wide curfew was reverted to 8 p.m. to  4 a.m. starting on Monday as part of efforts to stem the spread of the virus.

Travel to Iloilo City was restricted to essential purposes such as work, medical needs, accessing government services, transport of goods and construction materials, humanitarian purposes, COVID-19 vaccination, and returning overseas and stranded workers and residents.

Border checkpoints were put up to implement the restrictions.

But the restrictions would be lifted every Thursday for those who were going to get their COVID-19 shots in the vaccination centers in the city.

The city’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout has been opened to non-residents amid the continued increase in cases on Panay Island which has strained hospitals in the city, the regional center.

Treñas said the city government will accept even non-city residents who want to be vaccinated in its seven vaccination sites every Thursday.

Those who want to be vaccinated during this day do not require reservation tickets but need to present valid identification documents.

The city aims to inoculate around 525,000 residents and non-residents working in the city.

Treñas said nearly 75 percent of the target population remains unvaccinated which he said could be due to vaccine hesitation.

The Department of Health in Western Visayas reported 511 new COVID-19 cases on August 24 bringing the cumulative total to 99,310.

The region has 10,987 active cases and 2,383 have died of the disease since March last year. The DOH regional office reported 53 new Delta variant cases in the region on Monday.

These include 21 in Aklan, 16 in Iloilo province, 11 in Iloilo City, and one each in the provinces of Antique, Capiz and Guimaras and Bacolod City. One case is a returning overseas worker.

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