The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on Thursday, Aug. 12, expressed alarm on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in Cebu City.
“What’s happening in Cebu is truly alarming,” said PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon.
PRC said the COVID-19 cases in Cebu City continues to spike, adding that the OCTA Research even declared that the city is “in the midst of the worst COVID-19 surge.”
As of Aug. 8, PRC noted that there are already 3,316 cases in the city.
To respond to the situation, Gordon sent additional medical tents to PRC’s Cebu City Chapter to support the City Government of Cebu.
Gordon also underscored the need to act swiftly as “there is a need to adapt an aggressive approach” in the timely extraction, isolation, and treatment of COVID positive individuals.
Aside from tents, Gordon also directed the PRC to send 300 cadaver bags as Cebu City is seeing an average of six to seven confirmed or suspected COVID-related deaths a day since the start of August.
“I immediately sent the additional medical tents for our countrymen in Cebu,” Gordon said in a mix of English and Filipino. “The PRC will always be there, and I’ll make sure of it so we can fight this pandemic,” he added.
Last June 2020, the PRC put into action a health support program by deploying medical tents to serve as triages and isolation areas in Cebu to respond to the surge of cases in the region.
PRC Cebu Chapter Administrator Atty. Vera De Jesus, the chapter already has six medical tents, yet today it received six more from the PRC National Headquarters in Mandaluyong.
Each tent measures 72 square meters with an eight to 10-bed capacity and is fully equipped.
PRC said that the tents will be placed at the Cebu City Medical Center and Chong Hua Hospital to augment the need of extra beds for COVID-19 patients.