MANILA, Philippines — Some 2,000 hospital beds are needed for severe and critical COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said Monday during the pre-recorded briefing of President Rodrigo Duterte.
This is because there are 100,000 active COVID-19 cases in the region, 2% of which are severe and critical cases, he said.
Currently, Metro Manila has 1,395 intensive care unit beds and would need 605 more.
According to Galvez, about P9.577 billion in payments made by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to hospitals in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon would help in adding more COVID-19 beds and increase the overall healthcare capacity of the country amid the alarming surge of COVID-19 cases.
Local government units of Quezon City, Taguig, Caloocan, Manila, Pasay, Valenzuela, San Juan, Navotas, Makati, and Parañaque have initially committed to provide 30 ICU beds for severe and critical patients and 1,350 beds for moderate, mild, and asymptomatic cases, Galvez said.
As of Monday, April 12, the Philippines had 876,225 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 157,451 active cases, 703,625 recoveries, and 15,149 deaths.