Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso reiterated his call for residents of the city to continue following government-issued health protocols while waiting for the COVID-19 vaccines.
"While it is true that there is already a vaccine, ang bakuna ay wala pa po sa bansa natin. May mga programang ginagawa at paghahanda. 'Yan ay para sa mga darating na linggo o buwan ng 2021 (The vaccine is not in our country yet. There are programs being prepared. That is for the coming weeks and months in 2021," he said during his weekly Capital Report on January 29.
"For the meantime, patuloy kayong magmalasakit sa inyong sarili. Sumunod kayo nang kusa sa mga alituntunin na pinatutupad ng national government at local government (continue taking care of yourselves. Voluntarily follow the guidelines issued by the national and local government) with regard to health protocols," he added.
Data from the city government showed that there are 362 active cases out of 26,458 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the capital city as of Sunday noon. Of this figure, 25,312 have recovered while 784 have died.
The Manila city government has also sustained its free swab testing efforts for both residents and non-residents of the city. As of January 30, it has already tested 72,000 people.
Meanwhile, around 1,875 people have been swabbed for the city government's Balik Maynila Free Swab Testing program, that was launched for residents returning to the city after spending the holidays in the province or abroad. At least 20 have tested positive for COVID-19 as of January 29.
The city government also recently upgraded its drive-thru serology testing facility at Quirino Grandstand to a swab testing facility, where 654 people have been tested with eight found positive also as of January 29.
Domagoso earlier signed an agreement with British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the advance purchase of 800,000 vaccines that is seen to benefit 400,000 people.
Frontline health workers, senior citizens and other members of vulnerable sectors, uniformed personnel, and public school teachers are included in the city government's priority list for the vaccine.
Next to be inoculated will be those who pre-registered at the manilacovid19vaccine.com. As of Sunday evening, nearly 79,000 people have registered on the website.
The Manila COVID-19 Vaccine Storage Facility was also recently opened at the 7th floor of Sta. Ana Hospital. It is equipped with several refrigeration units that can store different brands of COVID-19 vaccines.
These include five Haier HYC-390 refrigeration units which can store vaccine doses from AstraZeneca and Sinovac, four other biomedical freezers which can store Janssen and Moderna vaccine vials, and three -86 degrees celsius ULT Freezers from Haier which can store Pfizer vaccines.
The city government also acquired 50 transport coolers that will be used to deploy the vaccines.
At least 18 vaccination sites in Manila have also been identified.