WITH the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases increasing in Bacolod, the City Government is now preparing to reopen five more public schools to be utilized as quarantine facilities.

Councilor Renecito Novero, chairperson of the city's quarantine center action team, said Friday, January 28, that he already met with the principals of Luis Hervias National High School, the elementary and national high schools in Barangay Handumanan, Sum-ag Elementary School, and Bata National High School to ready their schools to accommodate residents infected with the disease.

"For now, our Covid-19 cases continue to increase so we need to ready our quarantine facilities to extract all the Covid-19 patients and transfer them to the city's quarantine facilities," he said.

But he stressed that the number of Covid-19 cases in Bacolod remains manageable.

Bacolod currently utilizes Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School, Medella Integrated School, Education and Training Center School, and A.L Jayme Elementary School for the Covid-19 patients as quarantine facilities.

Novero noted that pregnant residents who tested positive for coronavirus are housed at the Graciano Lopez Jaena Elementary School.

As of January 27, Bacolod City has a total of 26,406 Covid-19 cases, of which 23,348 have recovered, 2,239 have remained active, and 810 have died.

It also had a total of 198 new cases with one death on January 27.

"Once our quarantine facilities will be fully occupied, we will reopen the five public schools and we are thankful for the cooperation of the Department of Education," Novero said.

He said he also meet with the nurses managing the quarantine facilities to ensure the safety of Covid-19 patients.

"We discussed all the things needed inside the facility to ensure that all our Covid-19 patients are safe," he added.

Novero said Bacolod City has a total of 19 quarantine facilities, with some that had been closed since 2021 when the number of Covid-19 cases declined.