By Dhel Nazario The City Government of Taguig has put up five temporary facilities that will house Persons Under Investigation (PUIs), Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs) and COVID-19-positive cases as an additional measure to combat the deadly disease. The city will tap into government-owned buildings, centers and other government facilities to provide additional beds for COVID-19-related cases and accommodation for some frontline workers. “With this step, we express our resolve to provide better support for those who need medical attention and also for our hardworking frontline workers,” said Mayor Lino Cayetano. Cayetano explained that dedicated wards would help the city manage cases in a way that minimizes unnecessary exposure to the virus. Special accommodations, meanwhile, provide shelter and isolation for workers who may have exposed themselves in the line of duty. Specifically, Taguig repurposed its PWD Center; a new building in Katwiran, Ibayo Tipas; Taguig Lakeshore; a building inside the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) Taguig; and Hagonoy Sports Complex. Each facility will accommodate specific cases. The PWD Center will receive patients who tested positive for COVID-19 but manifest mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. It will also house staff of the city government deployed to care for admitted cases. A newly constructed four-story building in Katwiran, Ibayo Tipas, will admit persons under investigation (PUIs) and individuals who had close contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19. The Lakeshore site has modular tents meant for persons under monitoring (PUMs). It is a quarantine facility for those who had travelled in the last 14 days, including overseas Filipino workers and downscaled or recovering PUIs. The building at the TUP campus in Taguig will function as a hostel and admit confirmed COVID-19 cases. A tent hospital extension is set up on the open grounds. Lastly, Hagonoy Sports Complex will accommodate personnel of the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection and other frontline workers who have been implementing the enhanced community quarantine on the ground. With modular tents, the complex is also an isolation area for the frontline workers. The temporary facilities will provide daily meals, hygiene kits, even slippers and Internet connectivity for all patients. They are also air-conditioned and manned by medical professionals round the clock. The Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH), meanwhile, will continue to admit COVID-19-related cases and PUIs. These patients will be placed in isolation rooms, COVID-19 wards, intensive care units and tents. TPDH is in close coordination to referral hospitals like the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the Lung Center of the Philippines to refer more severe cases. Cayetano said that the five repurposed facilities are a preemptive measure for a “worst-case scenario”. “TPDH is operational but we have also prepared because we know that in other countries, cases have exceeded the capacity of the healthcare system,” he added. Cayetano mentioned that while data would reveal that e in 10 cases can recover under home care, the supplementary facilities will allow the city to care for COVID-19 patients, PUIs and even PUMs whose homes are not conducive to healing and risk other members of the household to infections. A dedicated containment unit will assess cases.