The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is ramping up efforts to help government respond to the surge in COVID-19 cases by increasing the capacity of quarantine facilities in New Clark City.
As this developed, the four mega swabbing facilities co-managed by BCDA have eclipsed the 1 million mark in terms of patients served.
BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Vince Dizon said government will convert one building at the National Government Administrative Center (NGAC) into a temporary treatment and monitoring facility (TTMF) for COVID-19 patients with mild or asymptomatic cases.
The new facility will expand Clark’s current isolation capacity by another 171 beds, bringing the total to 1,121.
“The government recognizes the need to beef up our isolation capacity amid the spike in COVID-19 cases. We hope to ease the burden of hospitals by building more facilities for patients with mild and asymptomatic cases,” said Dizon, who is also concurrently National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer and testing czar.
Dizon said the new facility is targeted to open within the third week of April. He assured that it has complete amenities for the comfort, convenience and well-being of patients who will be isolated there.
Currently, there are four mega quarantine centers in Clark, namely NGAC North Wing, NGAC South Wing, Athlete’s Village Building A and Athlete’s Village Building B. These four facilities have a total capacity of 950 beds.
As of April 11, 2021, 86 percent or 815 of the total beds have been occupied.
To date, all TTMFs in Clark have already served a total of 14,958 COVID-19 patients.
Over 1 million patients swabbed
Meanwhile, the government’s four mega swabbing facilities have also made significant strides, with 1.07 million patients swabbed from May 5, 2020 to April 9, 2021. Aside from BCDA, the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) jointly manage these facilities.
The swabbing site at the SM Mall of Asia Arena has so far served 246,522 individuals, while the one at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium has swabbed 224,553.
A total of 340,505 patients were also swabbed at the Philippine Arena, while another 257,257 were served by the ACT Mobile Team.