IATF to DPWH: Convert public buildings into COVID-19 quarantine area

MANILA, Philippines — The inter-agency task force handling the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has mandated the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to lead the conversion of public buildings into alternative quarantine sites.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who is also the official mouthpiece of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said in a virtual press briefing Tuesday that the DPWH will turn the Philippine International Convention Center, World Trade Center, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and other government facilities into “fully-functional quarantine facilities.”

Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said that the IATF has approved the proposal to convert sports facilities and schools into makeshift quarantine sites after hospitals and healthcare facilities struggle to accommodate more persons under monitoring and investigation (PUIs and PUMs) for COVID-19 cases.

Nograles likewise, announced that local government units will identify “Provincial, City, Municipal, and Barangay quarantine facilities in accordance with the guidelines issued by the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government).”

To date, the Philippines has 1,546 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, 78 of whom have died while 42 managed to recover.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Worldwide, the virus, which was first detected in Hubei, China, already infected more than 784,000 people and killed over 37,600 while more than 165,200 people have recovered so far from the disease as of March 30.

Edited by JPV