More quarantine facilities in Borongan City in Eastern Samar will be completed by the middle of September to accommodate more returning residents, the city mayor said on Monday.

These concrete structures are located in the villages of Sta. Fe and Maypandang, each with 14 beds and four comfort rooms, Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda said in a statement.

“We are prepared and building more spaces in the event that the Department of Education disallows the continued use of schools as quarantine facilities, as more locally stranded individuals and overseas Filipino workers will be returning home,” he added.

The city government has allocated PHP5.9 million for the construction of each facility.

Agda said the city government also targets to complete its first modern isolation facility in Campesao village on September 8.

The 28-bed facility worth PHP13.98 million has 14 rooms, each with high-grade medical equipment such as digital X-ray machine, oxygen tanks, and mechanical beds, among others.

Construction of other coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) facilities in San Jose and Benowangan is also ongoing, Agda said.

“We used our Bayanihan grant from the national government for the construction of these facilities. Once the pandemic is over, they will be utilized as primary healthcare centers as part of our roadmap to modernize the health care system in the city,” he added.

The city government said among its initiatives to improve its health care service are the provision of free medicines to residents, hiring of more health care professionals, and building more health facilities in strategic locations.

To date, the city has confirmed a total of eight cases, seven of which are active and one already recovered, according to the provincial health office of Eastern Samar.

Meanwhile, Eastern Visayas has confirmed a total of 2,952 cases, including 1,608 recoveries and 16 deaths, according to the monitoring report of the Department of Health. (PNA)