MANILA, Philippines — Another Manila City hospital has been forced to temporarily close after 32 of its doctors and nurses fell ill while tending to COVID-19 patients.
The Ospital ng Tondo will be on a ten-day shutdown starting August 14, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno told radio dzMM Friday.
The mayor assured the public that treatment for patients who are already confined in the Ospital ng Tondo will continue throughout the temporary closure.
"Now, another thing, if for example, there are emergency cases that are life or death situations, we will continue to accept them. But, if they are not [life or death cases], we will refer you to our five other hospitals," Moreno added in a mix of English and Filipino.
This marks the second temporary shutdown for the Ospital ng Maynila, which first closed from May 11 to May 24 for the same concerns.
The Ospital ng Maynila was also closed from July 31 to August 9 after at least 15 of its medical frontliners tested positive for novel coronavirus.
Latest data from the Department of Health shows that the City of Manila has logged a total of 9,743 infections and 162 deaths as of August 13.
It ranks only second to Quezon City in terms of total COVID-19 cases among local government units.
Meanwhile, Monday saw another record-breaking high of almost 7,000 new infections nationwide, while over 4,000 new cases logged on Thursday upped the national caseload to 147, 526.
At the urging of medical frontliners who said they were increasingly overwhelmed by the surge in COVID-19 cases, President Rodrigo Duterte reverted Metro Manila and nearby provinces to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine until at least August 18.
Friday marks the 150th day that the country has been under community quarantine — the longest in the world. — Bella Perez-Rubio