Hospitals report hike in mild COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) has reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in their facilities amid reports of a new wave of COVID-19 infection.

Dr. Jose Rene de Grano, PHAPI president, said most of the cases, however, were mild.

“COVID-19 cases increased by around 10 to 15 percent but these are all very manageable since symptoms are generally mild,” De Grano said in an interview.

“Mostly, these are outpatient and then, if with symptoms, they get to be tested with the Rapid Antigen Test.”

If patients, especially the elderly and those with comorbidities, test positive, they are advised to be confined, he added.

De Grano noted that “most of them (patients) did not have their booster doses.”

“For about two months, zero or no COVID case was recorded by PHAPI, and then there was this slow increase and it peaked just last week,” he said.

However, De Grano said he expects a decline in positive cases in the coming weeks, as hospitals remain very strict in implementing health protocols.

“They do not allow people to enter without masks. The COVID patients are confined in isolation areas or infectious disease area of the hospital, away from the rest of the patients,” De Grano said.

According to the World Health Organization, there are three new COVID variants under monitoring: JN.1.18, KP.2 and KP.3 – all descendants of JN.1.

Variants KP.2 and KP.3 are the proper names of what is informally known as “FLiRT” variants.

According to the Department of Health, sequencing efforts are being conducted by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

“Whether or not sequencing shows variants flagged by global health agencies, the DOH assumes the flagged Omicron subvariants (i.e. KP.2, KP.3) are already likely here, and notes that cases continue to be clinically mild and manageable,” it said.