FILE. Facade of the East Avenue Medical Center i Quezon City. Screengrab from EAMC youtube
MANILA, Philippines — Latest data from the Department of Health (DOH) bared that Quezon City recorded the highest coronavirus cases in the Metro, as well as the most number of hospitals that have already reached full occupancy in terms of bed capacity for COVID-19 cases.
As of March 21, Sunday, the DOH’s COVID-19 tracker showed that 53,037 out of 279,622 total COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) were from Quezon City.
Of the sum, 7,722 are active cases while there are 44,394 total recoveries, bringing the city’s recovery rate to 83.7 percent. A total of 921 cases from the city have succumbed to the disease.
However, the city’s Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit’s (CESU) latest COVID-19 update showed lower figures compared to the DOH’s data.
According to QCESU, there are 5,246 active infections in the city. Meanwhile, a total of 33,456 recovered and 878 died due to the dreaded disease.
The overall number of validated COVID-19 cases by the QCESU and district health offices reached 39,580. On the other hand, there are about 214, 141 suspected cases among those who were contact traced.
Cases per district
The city has a total of six districts composed of 142 barangays.
Based on the recent figures provided by QCESU, Barangay Batasan Hills and Commonwealth in district 2 recorded the highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the city with 196 and 192 total infections respectively.
However, the district’s overall total active cases are only at 670. Around 4,482 individuals from the five barangays in the district have recovered from the disease, while 183 died.
District 4, covering 38 barangays, had the most number of total active cases in the city per district with 1,186. There are 136 deaths and 7,085 recoveries reported in the district.
Listed below are the total number of active cases, recoveries, and deaths in different districts as of Sunday.
District 1 (37 barangays): 978 active cases, 6,124 recoveries, 183 deaths
District 2 (5 barangays): 670 active cases, 4,482 recoveries, 162 deaths
District 3 (37 barangays): 854 active cases, 5,464 recoveries, 127 deaths
District 4 (38 barangays): 1,186 active cases, 7,085 recoveries, 136 deaths
District 5 (14 barangays): 868 active cases, 5,006 recoveries, 132 deaths
Distric 6 (11 barangays): 690 active cases, 5,295 recoveries, 138 deaths
Bed capacity
Seven in 13 hospitals in Metro Manila that have already reached 100 percent bed occupancy for COVID-19 patients are located in Quezon City.
This was according to the DOH data as of March 20.
These are:
Bernardino General Hospital I,
Commonwealth Hospital and Medical Center,
East Avenue Medical Center,
F.Y. Manalo Medical Foundation, Inc.,
FEU- Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation Inc.,
Metro North Medical Center and Hospital, and,
Rosario Maclang Bautista Hospital.
These hospitals have all been placed under critical level and have already reached 100 percent bed occupancy based on DOH’s latest data.
Meanwhile, 13 in 30 of 150 hospitals in the NCR under critical level are located in Quezon City.
DOH classifies occupancy levels for COVID-19 beds in health facilities as either critical, high risk, moderate, or safe.
Those at the critical level have already reached more than 85 percent of their bed occupancy for COVID-19 patients while hospitals classified as high-risk have 70 percent but not more than 85 percent of its COVID-19 beds occupied, and those at the moderate level have 60 to 70 percent COVID-19 beds in use.
As of March 20, there were 22 hospitals in the Metro that were placed under the high-risk level. Of the sum, nine are from Quezon City, namely:
Allied Care Experts (Ace) Medical Center Quezon City
Bernardino General Hospital II
Dr. Fe Del Mundo Medical Center
National Children’s Hospital
National Kidney Transplant Institute
Novaliches District Hospital
Philippine Heart Center
Providence Hospital
St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City
The remaining hospitals under the same category are from the cities of Manila, Las Piñas,
Malabon, Makati, Pasay, Pasig, Parañaque, Pateros, and San Juan.
There are 45 hospitals located in Quezon City that are included in the health department’s COVID-19 tracker. The bed occupancy rate for the entire city is 76.9 percent with 1,581 out of 2,057 total beds occupied, according to DOH.
The health department’s data also showed that a total of 234 out of 287 ICU beds in the city are already occupied. Around 701 isolation beds and 646 ward beds are also taken.
From the 289 mechanical ventilators available in different hospitals in the city, 189 are currently being used.
On Monday, the Commonwealth Hospital and Medical Center announced that it has reached full capacity for COVID-19 admission.
However, the hospital’s management clarified that the emergency and outpatient department (OPD) will still be open to “provide immediate treatment.”
St. Luke’s Medical Center also announced that their COVID-19 wards and ICU Units in Quezon City and Taguig have already reached full capacity.
“Meanwhile, St. Luke’s remains in service for non-COVID-19 cases, both outpatient and inpatient,” the hospital said in an advisory on Monday.
‘Special concern’ lockdowns
Due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the city, the local government has placed several areas in different barangays under a 14-day special concern lockdown.
The Quezon City government said the lockdown is implemented in the following areas:
No. 90 Gonzales Compound, Barangay Balon Bato – started March 8
No. 50 K-9th Street, Barangay West Kamias – started March 8
Portion of Sitio 5, Jose Abad Santos, Barangay Sta. Lucia – started March 9
No. 138 -178 Orchids Street and No. 153-165 Jasmin Street, Barangay Central – started March 10
No. 43 Salvador St., Barangay Krus Na Ligas – started March 10
Portion of Ramos Compound, Barangay Unang Sigaw – started March 10
No. 86 C. Benitez Street, Barangay San Martin de Porres – started March 10
No. 18, 3rd Ave., Barangay BL Crame – started March 10
No. 27 Mabituan Street, Barangay Masambong – started March 11
No. 77 to Block 2 Lot 7 Orchids Street, Freedom Park 3, Barangay Batasan Hills – started March 11
Christ the King Mission Seminary, No. 101 E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave., Barangay Kristong Hari – started March 12
Nos. 20 and 22 Antique Street, Barangay Ramon Magsaysay
– started March 12
No. 43-N Langka Street, Barangay Balingasa – started March 12
No. 82 Mabituan St., Barangay Masambong – started March 12
PhilQ Manpower Services, No. 16 Tulip St., Barangay Roxas – started March 12
No. 41 Mendoza St., Barangay Paltok – started March 13
Robina St., Barangay Bungad – started March 13
Just Textile Finishing Corporation located at No. 101 Kaingin Rd, Barangay Apolonio Samson (company barracks) – started March 14
No. 9 Batangas Street, Barangay San Antonio – started March 15
No. 2 Bodino St., Barangay Paraiso – started March 15
Block 12, Lot 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and Blocks 13 – 14, Sto. Niño Village, Chestnut Extension, Barangay Fairview – started March 16
No. 8 Oxford St., Barangay E. Rodriguez – started March 16
No. 241, 15th Ave., Barangay E. Rodriguez – started March 16
No. 16 East Riverside, Barangay Paraiso – started March 17
No. 116 Taurus St, Remarville Subd., Barangay Bagbag – started March 17
Oriole Street from No. 56 to No. 179, Area 2 Sitio Veterans, Barangay Bagong Silangan – started March 18
Dumayag Compound along No. 100 Old Samson Road, Barangay Apolonio Samson – started March 18
No. 118 Pacheco Compound, Katuparan Street corner Kalinisan Street, Barangay Commonwealth – started March 18
No. 94 Iba Street, Barangay San Isidro Labrador – started March 18
No. 169 Del Monte Ave., Barangay Manresa – started March 18
No. 20 Pelaez Street, Barangay Villa Maria Clara – started March 18
Portion of No. 624 Interior, Bagbag Cemetery, Barangay Bagbag – started March 19
No. 53 Matatag Compound, Barangay Pinyahan – started March 19
Croma and Son’s General Merchandise, No. 976 A. Bonifacio, Barangay Balingasa – started March 19
No. 95-A Silencio Street, Barangay Santol – started March 19
Nos. 1-5 Aguho St., Barangay Claro – started March 19
Areas 2, 4 and 5, Barangay Escopa 1 – started March 19
No. 24 Harvard St., Barangay Socorro – started March 20
No. 88 Magnolia St., Barangay Roxas – started March 20
Nos. 403 to 441 Cadena de Amor St and Azucena Street, Barangay Central – started March 20
No. 44 and No. 56-57 BFD Compound, Barangay Central – started March 20
The local government assured that food packs and essential kits will be distributed to affected families who should undergo swab testing and mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Other actions
Aside from placing different areas under lockdown in a bid to address the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, the Quezon City government has also asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to deploy additional contact tracers in the city so that it would be able to achieve the ideal ratio of one COVID-19 case to 37 contacts.
According to Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, the local government was previously able to achieve the ideal contact tracing ratio after DILG deployed over 1,500 contact tracers in the city.
However, when 1,000 of the DILG’s contact tracers ended their contracts, only 500 were left with the city, which was augmented by 500 of the city’s own contact tracers.
At present, the city has about 1,065 contact tracers; with this, they were only able to achieve the 1:8 ratio.
“Siguro dagdagan ng DILG ng 2,000 o kaya ng 3,000 [contact tracers] para umabot kami sa criteria para masabing compliant kami sa kanilang napakamahigpit na criteria for effective LGU contact tracing,” she said in a press briefing on March 17.
(Maybe the DILG could add 2,000 or 3,000 contact tracers so we could achieve the criteria.)
“Nabawasan ‘yung contact tracing namin noong natanggal o nawala ‘yung 1,000 na contact tracers na binigay ng DILG, nagkaroon talaga ng malaking epekto,” she added.
(Our contact tracing capability decreased when the 1,000 contact tracers deployed by the DILG were gone, it created a big impact.)