All churches and church facilities in the Diocese of Kalookan are ready to be used as vaccination sites against the coronavirus diseases.
“The directive of Bishop Pablo [Virgilio David] to all priests and ministries is to open the churches,” said Father Rene Richard Bernardo, health care priest minister of the diocese.
The priest told Radio Veritas 846 in an interview that everyone should help. “We are ready to help to expedite the number of people who will be vaccinated and save lives,” said Father Bernardo.
The priest, who is also a registered pharmacist, said the diocese was able to dispense about 5,000 vaccines in recent months.
He said, however, that the challenge is still the availability of vaccines, not the vaccination sites..
“The only way and the best solution to take care of ourselves is to get vaccinated and, second, is of course to always face masks and face shields and the wash our hands properly,” he said.
The daily count of new COVID-19 cases in the country breached the 7,000-mark anew on Wednesday after the Health department reported 7,342 new infections.
The Department of Health said the new infections brought the country’s total case count to 1,619,824.
Active cases in the country also rose to 63,171, of which 94.1% are mild, 1.3% are asymptomatic, 2% are severe, and 1.2% are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, total recoveries increased to 1,528,422 after 7,285 more patients defeated the illness.
The Health department said 61% of the country’s intensive care unit beds are utilized, while 41% of the mechanical ventilators are also in use.
In Metro Manila, 59% of the ICU beds are in use, while 42% of the ventilators are utilized.
