The National Capital Region (NCR) currently has 6,595 health care workers, all under quarantine because of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection.

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said 7.2 percent of the 91,838 health care workers in NCR are in isolation.

“So, ang ginagawa ngayon ng mga hospital lalung-lalo na sa mga bigger center ay nag-close sila ng ibang services para ma-redeploy sa mga areas na nangangailangan for Covid ng kanilang mga (What hospitals do now, especially the bigger centers, is they close other services to redeploy the [healthcare workers] to areas needing assistance for Covid),” Vega said during a televised Palace briefing Tuesday.

Vega said the government has prepared for such a scenario since last year.

“So, roughly, naka-position na kami ng mga 7,000 plus health care workers na (we have positioned 7,000 plus health care workers for) augmentation for the different hospitals, isolation centers, and testing centers,” he added.

Earlier, the DOH shortened to five days the isolation period for fully vaccinated health care workers with zero, mild or moderate symptoms of Covid-19 in consideration of the hospitals’ needs.

In a separate online media forum, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire assured the government will not implement a policy that would put patients and health care workers at risk.

“Lahat po ng ating pinapatupad ay base sa ebidensya at siyensiya. May mga ibang bansa na nagpatupad ng ganito na rin pong (What we implement are based on evidence and science. Other countries have implemented such) protocol because of contingencies, because of the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant,” she added. (PNA)