LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—The number of active COVID-19 cases in this province has climbed to 589 with 45 new infections on Tuesday (Sept. 14), an official said.
Dr. Nora Ruiz, Benguet provincial health officer, said 230 COVID-19 cases were added to the data on Monday alone, raising to 5,266 the province’s total number of infections since last year.
Ruiz said Benguet also logged four new COVID-19 fatalities since Monday.
All temporary treatment and monitoring facilities in the province have already reached their full capacity, including the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH), she said, adding that some patients had to be treated inside ambulances.
BeGH Chief Dr. Meliarazon Dulay said the healthcare system of the hospital is already on the “brink of collapse” and many of their health workers were quarantined after contracting the virus.
Dulay said eight of their healthcare workers, including doctors deployed by the Department of Health, did not renew their contracts.