QC gov't to vaccinate residents in closed and long-term care facilities
MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered the Quezon City Health Department to vaccinate all individuals residing and working in closed and long-term care facilities in the city.
This comes after the City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit reported that in 13 orphanages, home care facilities, apostolate centers, and rehabilitation centers it surveyed, some 594 have yet to receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine out of over 1,000 employees and clients working there.
“We are working closely with the city’s vaccination team so inoculation can be done at the soonest possible time,” QCESU chief Dr. Rolando Cruz said in a statement sent to reporters Thursday.
Recent data from the city government shows that there are 12,229 active cases and 46 areas under special concern lockdown in the city.
In early September, the QC government also confirmed that 122 children and staff of the Gentle Hands Orphanage in Barangay Bagumbahay contracted the coronavirus.
Belmonte also confirmed that she has received reports from media outlets about the passing of some nuns from the Religious of the Virgin Mary in Cubao.
“On behalf of the city government, I would like to express my sincerest condolences to the whole RVM community for losing some of their sisters to COVID,” the mayor said.
She added that the city has yet to receive official information from the religious facility itself, but she assures that the local government remains committed to extending assistance and support to all closed and long-term care facilities in the city “to control infection and to prevent deaths from possible future outbreaks.”
Belmonte also directed the Department of the Building Official, Department of the City Architect, and City Engineering Department to issue guidelines improving the infectious disease resiliency of these facilities through better ventilation among others.
She said this will help building administrators of closed and long-term care facilities retrofit their buildings and reduce COVID transmission.
To date, health authorities have recorded 2,417,419 coronavirus infections in the Philippines, 162,580 of whom are still classified as active cases.
As it currently stands, only around 18.5 million people in the country are fully vaccinated.
According to data from the Philippine National Police, 135 areas in the National Capital Region are under granular lockdown.
Around the country, almost 77,000 individuals are under some form of granular or localized lockdown.
— Franco Luna with a report from Christian Deiparine
Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Philstar.com.
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