UP's Kamia dorm, Ateneo high school classrooms to be used as isolation facilities
MANILA, Philippines — Three universities in Metro Manila have been tapped by the Philippine Red Cross for use of their campuses for additional isolation facilities, as the country continues to battle the surge in COVID-19 infections.
Sen. Richard Gordon, Philippine Red Cross chairman, said 32 classrooms at Ateneo de Manila University's high school were converted into isolation facilities. He said this would help decongest isolation centers that are full as daily increases continue to be in the thousands.
Facilities in Ateneo will be for patients referred by the Quezon City local government and the Red Cross, according to ADMU president Fr. Roberto Yap SJ.
"In addition, PRC, which will manage the facility while it is in use as an isolation center, will also implement stringent guidelines and regulations for the well-being of admitted patients and staff," he said, adding that no walk-ins would be allowed.
In UP Diliman, UP president Danilo Concepcion, who is also a Red Cross governor, said 96 rooms in the Kamia Residence Hall were turned into isolation quarters. A similar agreement was made with De La Salle University in Manila but the Red Cross has yet to release details on this.
"We are also reaching out to other universities and organizations within the Metro for possible partnerships," Gordon said.
Senior administration officials this week unveiled a 110-bed capacity facility at the Quezon Institute in Quezon City.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said too that 160 beds would be added at the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan.
Government is also eyeing to put up mobile tents for more isolation and ICU beds but the location has yet to be made known.
On April 8, the Philippines reported 9,216 additional COVID-19 cases, with active cases reaching a record-high 167,279, or accounting for 20.2% of the total.
The development pushed the country's overall count to 828,366. Such a figure is no longer far from a million cases, which the OCTA Research team projected for the Philippines by end of April.
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