The Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo, Manila. (Photo from its Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — The emergency room of the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC) in Tondo, Manila, stopped admitting patients on New Year’s Day due to an increase in the number of its workers getting infected with the COVID-19 virus.
The hospital made the announcement in a memo posted on Facebook by the Manila Public Information Office.
The closure would allow the hospital to disinfect the emergency room.
The memo did not say when the emergency room would be reopened.
In the meantime, Dr. Ted Martin, the hospital director, said: “All incoming patients shall still be evaluated and transferred to other city hospitals through proper coordination with Mr. Reynaldo L. Paglinawan Jr., Nursing Coordinator of this hospital.”
“Please bear with us and kindly accommodate patients that may be transferred to your hospital,” he added.
The hospital made the move a day after Malacañang announced that Metro Manila would be under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3 to 15 as it faced a possible “exponential” rise in COVID-19 cases.
Malacañang attributed the rise in cases to increased mobility during the holiday season and the presence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Earlier, the Department of Health recorded 3,617 new COVID-19 infections, the highest number registered since Oct. 10 and almost double the number of cases the previous day.
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