TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Individuals mandated to undergo isolation for them to recover from the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) can now conveniently do so following the recent inauguration of the completed initial phases of the city’s new isolation unit in barangay Agbannawag.
Mayor Darwin C. Estrañero reported that the city government opted to open the two completed phases of the isolation unit for the isolation requirements of suspected and probable COVID patients to prevent the possible congestion of existing isolation units not only in the city but also in other parts of the province.
Initially, he said that only 65 rooms will be made available for use by patients required to undergo isolation while the contractor is working on the completion of the third phase of the project to complete the 100-bed capacity of the isolation unit.
Earlier, the city government allocated some P25 million for the put up of the isolation unit to effectively and efficiently address the inadequate isolation centers in the city caused by the surge in the number of COVID cases in the city and the province over the past several months.
While the priority users will be the city residents who contacted COVID, Mayor Estrañero claimed that even the COVID patients from other parts of the province can be accommodated if there will be available beds for them to be able to complete their isolation and prevent the rapid spread of the virus in their respective communities.
The city chief executive underscored that the local government decided to prioritize the put up of the isolation unit to accommodate the possible surge in the number of COVID cases not only in the city but also in the province and such decision proved to be true because of the recent surges in the number of cases over the past several months that nearly compromised the local health care system.
Estrañero underscored that the city government will continue to prioritize the implementation of appropriate interventions that are readily available to contain the spread of the deadly virus in the city without sacrificing the delivery of other basic services and the implementation of other development projects that will allow the people to recover from the negative effects of the pandemic to their employment and economic activities.
Tabuk is one of the two cities in the Cordillera, the third largest city in the country in terms of land area, and is being groomed as the regional center because of the availability of lands that could be used to accommodate more investors in the region to sustain the growth and development of the region. By HENT