Gov’t expects spike in Covid-19 cases; opens new isolation hub

MANILA – The national government inaugurated on Saturday another mega quarantine facility to isolate more coronavirus patients in Barangay Mapagong, Calamba, Laguna.

Officials of the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 officially opened the 550-bed quarantine center to increase the isolation capacity of Region 4-A (Calabarzon).

The PHP50-million isolation facility is complete with amenities suitable for Covid-19 patients, including free Wi-fi.

Healthcare workers who will be assigned in the isolation center are also provided with sleeping quarters.

CCTV cameras are installed within the buildings.

Meanwhile, National Policy against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. cautioned the public on the possible spike in the coronavirus cases amid the onslaught of typhoons in the country.

Galvez said the government expects a reasonable increase of Covid-19 cases as physical distancing in some evacuation centers might “difficult to be observed” making the virus transmission more possible.

“Dahil nagkaroon ng sunud-sunod na kalamidad, ang ating evacuation centers natin ‘di maiiwasan magkaroon ng pagkakadikit-dikit (Since we were successively hit by disasters, we couldn’t prevent close contact),” Galvez said. “And we expect na magkakaroon tayo ng (to have) increases on our Covid-19 cases.”

Galvez urged the public not to be complacent and keep safe against the risks of Covid-19 infection.

He said people should not forget to “at least wear a face mask at all times.”

Covid-19 vaccine

On the other hand, Galvez earlier said the government will prioritize around 25 million Filipinos to initially get the vaccine during the first round of the immunization program, once it is available in the country.

The government has allotted PHP10 billion for the testing and procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine, he said.

“The ADB [Asian Development Bank] and World Bank assured us that they will also help us for pooled or self-sufficiency financing,” Galvez added.

The government is currently negotiating with potential suppliers, Galvez said: “We have good diplomatic relations with China, Russia, US, Japan, South Korea, UK, Singapore, and Israel.”

“Ngayon gumagawa tayo ng (We are currently entering into various) bilateral, tripartite, and multi-lateral engagements so that we can increase our capacity and our access to at least 25-30 million of our population will be vaccinated each year,” Galvez said.