The government will build more facilities to cope with the possible surge of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections with the discovery of a new strain of the virus that is believed to be more infectious than the first version detected in the country.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, vowed Tuesday that the health care capacity will be "doubled" in anticipation of the possible increase in the number of cases with the discovery of G614, a mutated strain of the novel coronavirus (SARS-NCoV-2) which causes COVID-19.
"Itong sinasabi po na strain ay mas mabilis ang paghawa. Palalakasin din po namin at mas mabilis rin po ang pag-capacitate natin sa mga quarantine facilities at sa ICU beds (The strain is said to be more infectious. That's why we will also strengthen and capacitate our quarantine facilities, and increase our ICU beds)," he said in a virtual press briefing.
"I-do-double na po natin 'yong tinatawag natin na 'build, build, build' dito sa mga facilities natin (We will double the 'build, build, build' construction of our facilities)," he added, referring to a mimicry of the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program of the administration.
On Monday, Galvez led the inauguration of a new medical facility in Quezon City which seeks to increase the capacity of the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) by 250 beds.
The NTF chief implementer also said more facilities which could accommodate 12,427 additional patients in Luzon, 3,565 in Visayas, and 3,893 in Mindanao are targeted to be built in the coming weeks.
"Bakit po natin binibigyang-pansin ang pagpaparami ng care facilities? Ito po ay upang ang lahat ng nagkakasakit at ang mga potensyal na nahawa ay kayang-kaya natin na ilagay sa ating care facilities (Why do we focus on increasing our care facilities? This is so we can accommodate all of those who will get sick and infected), he explained.
Last August 13, the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) said in a study that a new strain of the novel coronavirus, called G614, was detected in a small sample of positive cases in Quezon City in July.
The strain was a mutation of the first version detected in the Philippines, the D614, and international studies deemed it as "a globally dominant" form of the novel coronavirus.
"Together with the observation that G614 is now the dominant viral state, the authors claim that the said mutation can increase the viral rate of transmission," the PGC said.
However, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the detected strain does not represent the actual case in the entire country since it is found only in a small sample size in Quezon City.