03 Apr Private sector help continues in fight vs COVID-19
By: BusinessWorld | April 3, 2020
Source: BusinessWorld
Big businesses in the Philippines continue to provide assistance to the public as the country fights the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Lucio C. Tan’s LT Group, Inc. said yesterday it worked with Filipino fast food chain Binalot to deliver 10,000 meal packages to hospital workers in Metro Manila.
San Miguel Corp. is taking its “Manukang Bayan on Wheels” to more locations to bring fresh poultry and other refrigerated meats more accessible to those quarantined at home.
Private equity firm MFT Group and its healthcare arm Mondial Medical Technologies are donating emergency quarantine facilities to three state-run hospitals: Philippine Heart Center, Fernando Air Base Hospital and Ospital ng Maynila. These are expected to help them accommodate more patients than be forced to send home persons under monitoring or investigation.
The Aboitiz Group has tapped on-demand logistics firm Lalamove to directly send its donations to frontliners. This includes the P24.8 million-worth of COVID-19 assistance that the company is giving to hospitals and communities across the country.
Healthcare organization Zuellig Family Foundation is allocating P100 million for COVID-19 donations. Some P40 million will be used to buy ventilators and personal protective equipment for public hospitals, and P60 million will go to the Philippine Disaster for Resilience Foundation.
Aseana City developer D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc. is setting aside P100 million as an emergency fund to support its employees and retail tenants.
The new initiatives to help health workers and the public come as the Health Department continues to report rising cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Confirmed cases as of Thursday afternoon stood at 2,633, with 107 deaths and 51 recoveries.
Luzon is under quarantine until April 13 to mitigate the spread of the virus.