The Manila city government on Friday (Aug. 7) opened its 13th quarantine facility at the Manuel L. Quezon University in Quiapo, Manila.
The newest isolation facility has several rooms for probable and suspect coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients, as well as a nurses' station and rooms for health workers.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, who led the launch, said their quarantine facilities now have a total capacity of over 600 beds for the city's probable and suspect COVID-19 patients.
Testing czar Vince Dizon, who was also present at the launch, claimed that the city of Manila has the biggest capacity for COVID-19 patients among the cities in Metro Manila.
In his speech, Domagoso said they started building isolation facilities at the onset of the pandemic in March, even when there was no demand for it yet, but in preparation for the surge of COVID-19 patients in the city.
These are the T. Paez, P. Gomez, C. Arellano, Dapitan, Bacood, Tondo Sports Complex, Patricia Sports Complex, Araullo, Tondo, G. Del Pilar, San Andres Sports Complex, and Gen. Gregorio del Pilar quarantine facilities.
As of last week, these quarantine facilities were nearing 85 percent capacity, the mayor said.
Domagoso said earlier that they are planning to build another isolation facility at the basketball court at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) in Intramuros. The San Andres Complex quarantine facility will also be retrofitted.
City government data showed that as of Thursday noon, the country's capital has a total of 1,309 confirmed and active COVID-19 patients. There are also 418 suspect and 136 probable cases, 3,547 recoveries, and 236 mortalities.
