(FILE) PUBLIC ADVISORY Makati Medical Center in Makati City has advised the public that the hospital has reached capacity for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus infections in Metro Manila continue to increase. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — Intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients in Makati, Quezon City, Taguig, and Navotas are already in a “highly critical” situation amid the alarming surge of the disease in Metro Manila.
Health Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega on Wednesday said the current COVID-19 surge is “very worrying” and “very alarming” since the number of daily new cases is twice as much as those recorded in the surge last year, many of which need to be admitted to hospitals.
“Napansin namin na ang paggamit ng ICU na ito ay nasa high critical risk situation,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
(We noticed that the utilization of ICU is already in high critical situation.)
He said ICU beds are already filling up fast, especially when the turnaround time for its occupancy is long.
The minimum stay for COVID-19 patients in ICUs is about 10 days or more and could reach up to 20 to 30 days, meaning it would need a lot of time before the beds are decongested.
“Ang turnaround time ng facility na ito para ma-decongest ay medyo matagal. Kaya nagkakaroon ng problem in term of cases, kasi ang number of ICUs na allocated sa Metro Manila is very limited,” he said.
(That’s why we are having problems in terms of cases because the number of ICUs allocated in Metro Manila is very limited.)
The challenge for hospitals is to accommodate as much COVID-19 as they can and transform ordinary wards into ICU rooms where they can manage moderate and severe cases, Vega said.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 beds and isolation beds in all levels in Metro Manila hospitals have already reached a “moderate risk” situation, he added.
Due to the alarming exponential increase of daily COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, the government had to place the region, as well as four adjacent provinces, under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for one week.
On Monday, new COVID-19 cases breached the 10,000-mark, making it the highest increase in new cases in a single day ever since the pandemic started last year.
As of Tuesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country is 741,181, with 603,310 recoveries and 13,191 deaths. A total of 124,680 cases are considered active.