More hotels, schools readied as gov't quarantine facilities
The government may tap more hotels and school buildings to serve as temporary isolation and quarantine facilities in a bid to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant in the country.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque explained there is no shortage yet of such facilities but the government is merely stepping up preparations in case of a surge in infections. He noted that Filipinos are expected to return home as more countries become affected by the new COVID variant, first detected in the United Kingdom.
"There is no problem yet. We have more than 60 percent available facilities but of course we are making preparations given the increase in the number of countries affected by the new variant," Roque said in Filipino over DZBB Sunday.
Because of mandatory 14-day quarantine for returning Filipinos, we know that we must establish more temporary isolation facilities. We are increasing the two-star, three-star hotels as isolation facilities. Apart from that, time may come when we will ask for additional school buildings from DepEd -- since there are no face-to-face classes -- to serve as isolation facilities," he added.
Roque assured the public the government has adequate funds to establish more quarantine sites and deploy personnel to man these facilities. "There is no other weapon than intensified preparations to prevent its spread -- isolation, tracing and treatment," he said.
The government pandemic task force recently designated a small working group to resolve issues on funding, availability, and use of quarantine facilities, and eventual handing over to local government of arriving overseas Filipinos, including contingency plans.
The inter-agency group is led by the Department of Health. It includes Department of Tourism, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Budget and Management, Department of National Defense, Bureau of Quarantine, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, representatives from the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Task Group on Management of Returning Overseas Filipinos.
The country has already reported its first case of the new COVID-19 variant last week. A returning Filipino worker from United Arab Emirates tested positive for the illness and remained under quarantine.
Since the outbreak of the new variant , the government has banned foreign travelers from over 30 countries that reported cases of infections until Jan. 31. Filipinos and foreign diplomats are exempted from the travel restrictions but are mandated to undergo coronavirus testing and quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the country.