Marikina starts COVID testing today

After a long battle for accreditation, Marikina will finally start today its localized testing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Marikina’s testing center was given accreditation yesterday by the Department of Health.

Meanwhile, the DOH lauded Makati’s efforts to keep the COVID-19 infection rate low among the city’s health workers.

Makati posted only 18 of almost 1,300 health workers who have tested positive for the virus, according to the DOH.

Malabon hospital shut down

The Ospital ng Malabon would no longer accept patients after four of its staff tested positive for COVID-19, Mayor Antolin Oreta III said yesterday.

Oreta said the hospital would be closed to non-COVID-19 patients to allow for sanitation and contact tracing.

He said the emergency room, laboratory and radiology sections would remain open for outpatients.

Probable COVID-19 carriers would be confined at the city’s amphitheater, Oreta said.

As of Wednesday, there were 51 cases of COVID-19 in Malabon with nine deaths.

More inmates freed

The Supreme Court yesterday reduced bail and eased other requirements for poor inmates to decongest jails amid the surge of COVID-19 cases in detention facilities.

According to Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, the high court released a total of 9,731 inmates from March 17 to April 29.

Peralta noted that the inmates have to be arraigned first before they are released.

The legal proceeding is being done online, Peralta said.