MANILA — The government has tapped more hotels in Metro Manila as isolation facilities for patients with no or mild symptoms of COVID-19, an official said Thursday, as authorities clamped down on unauthorized home quarantine.

Only COVID-19 patients with their own room and bathroom and who do not live with any senior citizens, pregnant women or those with comorbidities are allowed to quarantine in their houses, authorities earlier said.

Metro Manila's six "We Heal As One" isolation centers, which have 3,000 beds in total, are almost full, said coronavirus testing czar Vince Dizon.

The government paid for some 2,000 hotel rooms to be used as additional isolation facilities, where patients will have free meals and will be monitored "24/7" by local authorities, he said.

"Ito pong mga hotel natin sa Metro Manila—Go Hotel, Sogo Hotel, Astrotel—iyon pong mga hotels na talagang komportable na magagamit ng ating mga kababayan habang sila ay gumagaling," Dizon said in an interview with Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque.

(Our hotels in Metro Manila—Go Hotel, Sogo Hotel, Astrotel—which are comfortable can be used by our compatriots while they are recovering.)

Walk-ins are not allowed at the hotel-isolation facilities and patients with positive coronavirus test results should be brought there by the local government, said Dizon.

Local governments in Metro Manila also run their own isolation facilities with a combined 10,000-bed capacity, he said.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, the country's isolation czar, is leading the construction of more quarantine facilities.

"Habang hinihintay natin iyon, kailangan mag-isip tayo ng mga innovation kaya po itong mga hotel natin sa Metro Manila ay ginagamit na rin natin," said Dizon.