National Action Plan Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon said the government is committed to construct more quarantine facilities and increase the laboratory testing capacity for the coronavirus disease in the province of Cebu.
Dizon met with Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes on Saturday, May 9, to discuss the government’s efforts in containing the spread of COVID-19.
“We know there are cases in this area, there are over a thousand cases. While this is a big number, what we want to tell the people of Cebu is that we can beat this thing together,” said Dizon.
Dizon highlighted the government’s strategy to “test, trace, and treat” to fight COVID-19. For Cebu, he said the goal is to increase the present lab capacity of roughly 1,000 tests per day to 3,500.
“The national government under the leadership of President Duterte, Secretary Charlie Galvez, and the entire leadership of the IATF led by Secretary Duque, we have instituted a very simple but we feel effective way to fight COVID-19, and this is simply explained in three words: test, trace, and treat or T3. We are very happy that this system is already in place here in Cebu, and the national government will put all of its efforts to even strengthen and augment the things that the officials here in Cebu have already done,” Dizon said.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) led by Secretary Mark Villar has also committed to build more isolation facilities in Cebu.
“This virus can be controlled if we are ready with the infrastructure to control it. And the national government has committed all-out support for the province of Cebu to achieve this” Dizon said.
Dizon also delivered PCR test kits to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center Sub-National Laboratory, as well as rapid diagnostic test kits and personal protective equipment to the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas.
Dizon also met with Bohol Governor Arthur Yap to discuss plans to increase testing capacity and expand isolation facilities in the province. He brought a team from the Department of Health (DOH) and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to Bohol to inspect and start the accreditation process for laboratory facilities.