DOH: Hospital admissions remain low despite uptick in COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in the country continues to increase, although hospital admissions remain low, the Department of Health said Tuesday. 

According to the latest DOH weekly bulletin, new COVID-19 infections rose by 50% in the past week. The seven-day average cases increased to 389 from 260. 

“Our cases in the hospitals are not increasing. Even if our numbers of COVID-19 are reportedly higher, our hospitals are not yet getting filled up with cases of COVID-19,” Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel. 

“I don’t think there will be a large or huge outbreak that will stress the health system,” he added. 

Hospitalizations remained at a safe level, with only 12.9% of the 1,101 beds in intensive care units and 18.3% of the 10,045 non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Among those admitted, 8.8% or 211 individuals were in severe or critical conditions. 

Herbosa noted a decrease in public fear, attributing it to increased knowledge COVID-19. 

“The doctors are also more confident about how they treat these cases… It’s not like when it was 2020 when we were all scared, the doctors were dying, patients were dying, and emergency departments were full,” he said. 

The health chief also advised the public to protect themselves from other respiratory diseases such as influenza and influenza-like illnesses by wearing face masks and staying at home if symptoms are present. 

Currently, there are 4,780 active COVID-19 cases. More than 4 million Filipinos have recovered from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in 2020, while over 66,000 have died.