Palace admits Metro Manila healthcare capacity on 'critical warning'
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday admitted that the hospital bed usage in the National Capital Region was already on "critical warning" status.
This comes just a week after Dr. Edsel Salvaña, an adviser of the national government's coronavirus task force, claimed that "right now we are still able to get people in [hospitals]" as he pushed aside the criticisms over the administration’s response.
Metro Manila's intensive care units bed utilization rates stand at 72% of the total estimated 1,400 total beds in the region as it currently stands.
"It's true that we're on critical warning because we went past 70% [usage] of critical beds, but we still have space," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a briefing Monday morning.
Per data from the Department of Health, 60% of some 4,600 isolation beds are also utilized—or in moderate risk—while ward beds are also listed as high risk with 71% of the estimated 4,100 also in use.
This, while 58% of the 1,100 ventilators in Metro Manila are also listed as being utilized.
Ngayong 4 PM, Agosto 23, 2021, ang Department of Health ay nakapagtala ng 18,332 na karagdagang kaso ng COVID-19. Samantala ay mayroon namang naitalang 13,794 na gumaling at 151 na pumanaw.
— Department of Health (@DOHgovph) August 23, 2021
Sa kabuuang bilang ng mga naitalang kaso sa bansa, 7.0% (130,350) ang aktibong kaso, pic.twitter.com/JPIDDFWz0Z
Roque on Monday was careful to point out that the number is considered "high risk" but not yet critical.
Metro Manila is under modified enhanced community quarantine until the end of August, along with the provinces of Laguna and Bataan, in an effort to curb the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
To date, health authorities have recorded 1.86 million coronavirus infections in the country after tallying another record-high in single-day increases so far with 18,332 new cases on Monday.
Earlier Sunday, the OCTA Research Group said that a downward trend in daily cases may take shape within the coming weeks but would "require sustained efforts in pandemic management" over the next month.
- Latest
- Trending
