The Athlete’s Village building in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, has been opened as a COVID-19 extension facility of Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Hospital (DPMMH) to help more Kapampangans affected by the coronavirus.
The facility used in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games passed site inspection and accreditation by the Department of Health (DOH) Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau (HFSRB) on Thursday.
According to Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda, the facility extension aims to ensure the safety of residents and help decongest hospitals in the province that can no longer accept patients with COVID-19.
Earlier, the governor appealed to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to reuse the building after it served as an isolation facility.
According to Dr. Dax Tidula, incident commander of Pampanga isolation facilities, the first three floors will be converted into infirmaries for patients with mild symptoms. The remaining fourth and fifth floors will be for asymptomatic patients.
The facility extension has 252 initial bed capacity. Each room has a bed, tv, refrigerator, and bathroom.
According to the latest records of the provincial epidemiology and surveillance unit of Pampanga, there are more than 4,000 COVID-19 active cases, of which more than 1,500 have died.
Athlete’s Village in New Clark City opened as COVID-19 extension facility
Meanwhile, the town of Guagua in Pampanga is set to declare a state of calamity due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
There have been 437 active cases there and 109 deaths, according to Guagua Mayor Dante Torres.
He said two barangays had been locked down, and their hospitals and quarantine facilities are almost full.
“Mas maganda ang state of calamity dahil unang-una nangangailangan kami ng pondo rito to sustain ‘yung mga ni-lockdown natin,” Torres said in an interview with Teleradyo Friday.
Because of the remarkable rapid transmission of the disease, the local government ordered testing not only those directly associated with COVID-19-positives but also secondary contacts.
The Department of Health recorded 17,231 new COVID-19 cases, Friday, August 20. This is the highest single-day cases recorded in the country.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.