Three quarantine facilities in Metro Manila were reopened as a spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases has been observed in recent weeks.
These facilities are the Rizal Memorial Stadium with 97 bed capacity, Ninoy Aquino Stadium with 127 bed capacity, and the Quezon Institute with a capacity of 112 beds.
“These are the temporary mega facilities na sinara before, tatlo ito, na naisara dati dahil wala ng masyadong gumagamit (These are the temporary mega facilities that were closed before because of the low number of patients then),” said Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing on Wednesday, March 31.
Vergeire said that this effort was initiated in a bid to decongest the hospitals.
“We are going to re-strategize the use of these quarantine facilities para magamit ng ating mga hospital as step down care facilities (We are going to re-strategize the use of these quarantine facilities for our hospitals to use as step down care facilities),” she said.
“Ibig sabihin, yung mga medyo gumagaling na at pwede na pong bantayan nalang sa mga ganitong facilities ay gagawin na po natin para madecongest ang hospitals (This means that those who are already recovering and can be monitored in these facilities in order to decongest the hospitals),” she added.
Vergeire said that some hotels will also be converted to a quarantine facility to transfer mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients currently admitted in hospitals.