Manila ready for possible COVID-19 surge —Isko

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno guaranteed that the city government is prepared for a possible surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, especially in Metro Manila.

In a news release on Monday, Moreno assured the public that the local government has taken all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

“Daig ng maagap ang masipag. While it is true that we are still in a situation na medyo kaya pa natin, pero ayaw ko kayo na dumating pa sa sitwasyon na naghahabol tayo lahat,” Moreno said.

(Diligence is better. White it is true that we are in a situation that is still manageable, I will not allow that in the end, we will encounter many problems.)

Moreno, the standard bearer of Aksyon Demokratiko for the May 2022 elections, disclosed that Manila has an ample stockpile of anti-COVID-19 drugs, including 22,758 tablets of mulnopiravir; 3,935 of remdesivir; 3520 of baricitinib; and 732 of tocilizumab.

Moreno said an additional supply of mulnopiravir is expected to arrive on Tuesday, January 4.

He added that the local government also placed advance orders for Paxlovid, an antiviral pill that is believed to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% of COVID-19 patients.

“There’s a new product, Paxlovid, nagpabili na po tayo pero hindi pa available sa mundo. Inaantabayanan pa natin na maging available sa mundo, pero umasa kayo, kung saka-sakali, available na siya, tayo po ay mag-aacquire,” Moreno said.

(There's a new product, Paxlovid, we already placed advance orders of even though it's not yet available in the market. We are waiting for it to be available. I assure you that Manila will have supply once the pill is available.)

The Department of Health earlier said it is preparing to purchase Paxlovid for the Philippines.

Aside from the medicines, Moreno said Manila also has a total of 1,374 oxygen tanks in reserve. He also said the quarantine facilities are reactivated amid the sharp increase of COVID-19 cases.

The 344-bed Manila COVID-19 Field Hospital is currently housing 307 infected returning overseas Filipinos and Filipino workers, Moreno said.

Meanwhile, Moreno called on parents to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19. He made the same appeal to individuals who are not yet inoculated since new patients were mostly unvaccinated.

He also said the local government is waiting for the guidelines for the inoculation of minors aged 5 to 11 years old.

"The City of Manila is ready to vaccinate 5 to 11-years-old. We are just waiting for Pfizer and the national government to tell us kung ano ang dosage, kung gaano kadami ang ibabakuna," Moreno said.

(We are just waiting for Pfizer and the national government to tell us the dosage.)

"Wala pa pong binibigay sa aming guidelines, but rest assured mga kababayan ko, kapag ito ay pinayagan na, pwede na, we will immediately deploy the vaccination of 5-11 years old,” he added.

(There's no guidelines yet, but rest assured that once it's already allowed, we will immediately start the vaccination.)

Moreno said the 24/7 hotlines of the city's health department have already been reactivated. The numbers are 09150656335; 09954966176; 09616281414; 09608229384; and 09777297572; and landline numbers 892-62385; 892-62380; and 892-62383. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA News