Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, has commended the efforts of the local government unit (LGU) of Makati City to prevent the spread of the disease in one of the biggest financial hubs in the country.

Galvez noted that Makati City managed to bring down the number of active cases from 2,000 in the previous months to hundreds at present.

"Nakita niyo na ang active cases natin dati napakataas -- more or less 2,000. Pero ngayon napababa natin ng 340 (Before we have more or less 2,000 active cases here. But now, we brought it down to 340)," he said during the turnover of newly-built We Heal as One quarantine facility on Thursday.

Makati Mayor Mar-len Abigail Binay-Campos thanked the NTF for the new quarantine facility as she emphasized the importance of the collaboration between the national and local governments to combat the pandemic.

The isolation facility is worth P17.8 million and has 44 air-conditioned rooms with complete amenities, a nursing station for healthcare professionals, and an X-ray laboratory.

Data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that Makati City has 11,777 total cases, of which, 927 (7.87 percent) were active cases, 10,600 recoveries (90 percent), and 250 deaths (2.12 percent).

Galvez said that if Makati manages to bring down the active cases to five percent or below, the COVID-19 situation in the city will be "manageable."

Further, he noted that the 90-percent recovery rate in Makati was slightly better than the national recovery rate which is at 89 percent.

"Ibig sabihin, ang response na ginagawa po natin ay maganda. At sa pagkakaroon ng quarantine facility na ito ay nakikita ko po ang mas lalong pagbaba ng ating mga kaso (This means that our response here is good. With this quarantine facility, I expect that we can further decrease our cases)," Galvez said.