Timeout not likely for health workers for now due to COVID-19 surge — DOH

FILE PHOTO Health workers from the Cebu City Health Department conducted contact tracing and testing using swab samples in Sitio Lawis, Alaska, Mambaling. CEBU CITY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — There may be no timeout for healthcare workers for now amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Wednesday.

“I don’t think that will happen right now, but whether it will lead to that depends on how the cases continue if they rise some more, hopefully not to the same level as our first peak in October,” Duque said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel when asked if the country can afford another timeout for healthcare workers.

“Kasi dati almost 7,000 tayo. Nag-average tayo mga 6,000 to 7,000 per day (Before we were at 7,000 new cases. We averaged from 6,000 to 7,000 per day). Now we are 4,437. Hopefully this goes down, but again dependent on how aggressively LGUs (local government units) with whom we have been meeting as often as we could to really intensify the CODE (Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic) implementation,” he added.

In an earlier press conference, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that the healthcare utilization in the country remains at a “manageable” level despite the spike in COVID-19 infections.

Dr. Beverly Ho, Concurrent Director IV of the DOH’s Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, said that the national healthcare utilization rate is still at 35 percent, which is considered as low-risk. However, she noted that intensive care units dedicated to COVID-19 patients in some regions are beginning to get filled up.

On Tuesday, the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 said they will not call for a timeout yet, but added that they would not hesitate to make this call if the spike in cases threatened to overwhelm the healthcare system in the country.

The national government previously granted the appeal of the medical community for a timeout as it reimposed strict lockdown measures in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces when the country saw a surge of COVID-19 cases in August last year.

The country has so far confirmed a total of 631,320 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, composed of  57,736 active cases, 560,736 recoveries, and 12,848 deaths.

EDV