COVID-19 referral center says calls slightly dropped

FILE PHOTO: A large computer monitor at the command center of PureForce and Rescue Operation Corp. in Santa Cruz, Manila, shows the COVID-19 hot spots in the Philippines as of March 18, 2021. INQUIRER FILE/RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The number of calls received by the country’s COVID-19 referral center has marginally decreased as officials note the recent slow decline of coronavirus infections in the Philippines.

One Hospital Command Center (OHCC) medical officer Dr. Marylaine Padlan said the average calls they are receiving have reduced from 300 a day to 200 as compared to the 300-400 calls they got each day last week.

According to Padlan, most of the calls they got were still from Metro Manila and Calabarzon, and most requests were for hospital admission.

“That means, ‘pag hospital admission, mga moderate, severe, critical cases pa rin ‘yung cases or ‘yung mga kliyente na mga nagre-request sa ‘min,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(Hospital admission requests mean that cases range from moderate, severe, and critical.)

The slight decline in the number of calls already has a positive effect on their operations as the referral center was able to talk to more hospitals and coordinate with more local government units, Padlan said.

“Sa pagbaba ng tawag, nakatulong sa sistema namin ito,” she said.

(The decrease in calls helped our system.)

The One Hospital Command Center connects and coordinates patients who need medical attention to hospitals and health care facilities.

It can be reached through hotline 1555, 02-886-505-00, 0915-777-7777, or 0919-977-3333.

In a report released Thursday, independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research group said Metro Manila’s COVID-19 reproduction number further dropped to 0.87, which is “considered low.”

KGA