FILE PHOTO / SAVED JANUARY 8, 2021 Health workers attending suspected person for Covid 19 at the Santa Ana hospital in Manila. Santa Ana hospital conducting swab tests on persons under investigation for Covid 19 and their own employees who are exposed in their wards with Covid 19 patient everyday. INQUIRER PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Intensive Care Units (ICUs) dedicated to COVID-19 patients are beginning to get filled up following the increase in coronavirus cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
While the national healthcare utilization rate is still at 35 percent, which is classified as low-risk, Dr. Beverly Ho, Concurrent Director IV of the DOH’s Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, noted that utilization for ICU beds in some areas is slowly rising.
In the National Capital Region, hospitals are operating with way over half of their ICU bed capacity filled up.
“[For] NCR, the latest data that we have [for healthcare utilization] is at 49 percent. However, I think we also need to highlight to everyone that while the number is currently at 49 percent, the ICU beds are already at 65 percent, mechanical ventilators are at 38 percent,” she said in a press briefing.
The current ICU utilization in Metro Manila is classified as moderate risk, according to Ho.
Meanwhile, Ho said Central Visayas has a healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) of 47 percent and 49 percent utilization for ICU beds alone.
Davao Region has 33 percent HCUR, and 52 percent utilization for ICU beds, while Cordillera Administrative Region has 56 percent HCUR and 71 percent utilization for ICU beds.
“I think the takeaway is similar. We cannot just be complacent about the numbers now because the ICU beds are slowly being filled up and it’s always a percentage of the number of cases,” said Ho.
“Habang tumataas ‘yung total cases, kahit mababa pa rin ‘yung nagiging serious, it’s always a percent of the cases. So habang lumalaki ‘yung total number of cases natin, inevitably, malaki ‘yung number ng mapupunta sa ICU,” she added.
(Even if the number of serious cases is low among the rising number of total cases, it’s always a percentage of the cases. So while the number of total cases increases, inevitably, the number of those who go to ICU will also increase.)
The country has so far recorded a total of 621,498 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, composed of 48,157 active cases, 560,512 recoveries, and 12,829 deaths.
The DOH has recently been recording higher figures on additional COVID-19 cases, with 5,000 new cases reported on Saturday as the highest so far this year. It was on August 26 last year when the DOH reported coronavirus infections reaching the 5,000-mark with 5,277 cases.