Iloilo City has received 46 beds from Cebu City to boost its response against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The donation was facilitated by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) under Secretary Michael Lloyd Diño and were shipped here on Sept.18 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

In an interview after Monday’s turnover ceremony, Mayor Jerry Treñas said the hospital beds will be used to augment the capacity of the St. Therese Hospital, which is being used by the city as its step-down facility.

Treñas said that with the donation, at least 50 recovering patients admitted in various hospitals here can now be transferred to the step-down facility.

With this, he added that Covid-19 bed hospitals will not be fully occupied.

“We want to make sure that Covid-19 beds will be especially available for those who need the beds,” he said.

Apart from hospital beds, the city has 12 tents that can be used at the triage that will be established in quarantine facilities.

Meantime, the OPAV, in its Facebook page, announced that 10 of the donated beds came from Chong Hua Hospitals and 36 from businessman Edmun Liu of LH Paragon.

It was part of the commitment of Dino to help Treñas in providing beds for the city, it said.

Treñas also thanked Dino and OPAV Special Concerns for Western Visayas Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales for facilitating the donations.

Apart from donations, the OPAV also facilitated the transfer of swab specimens from the city to the DOH-7 Cebu Molecular Laboratory for processing to help fast-track contract tracing efforts in Iloilo.

Data from the Department of Health Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD6) showed that as of Sept. 20, Iloilo City has 1,798 total cumulative confirmed cases.

Of the total cases, 1,045 have already recovered, 120 are still admitted, 147 on home quarantine, 438 on facility quarantine, and 13 are for verification.

It also recorded 35 deaths. (PNA)