(FIL) Health Program Officer Maria Carissa Ocampo of the Department of Health answers phone queries at the One Hospital Command Center, located at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority gymnasium in Makati City. The center monitors and refers bed space of hospitals handling COVID-19 patients as more hospitals in Metro Manila have reached full capacity due to the continued increase in coronavirus cases. RICHARD A. REYES / INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 referral center is receiving as many as 1,120 calls per day as the country is experiencing another surge in coronavirus infections, a Department of Health official said Thursday.
This is a stark increase from the 98 to 112 calls per day received by the One Hospital Command (OHC) in the first weeks of December last year, Health Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said.
This is also a record-high number of calls recorded daily since the pandemic started, which broke the previous highest count at 780 to 800 calls in September.
“Dahil sa mga bagong bilang ngayon, mataas masyado, talagang dumami ‘yung number of calls,” he said in a public briefing.
*Because of the new cases, which are too many, the number of calls has really increased.)
Vega said 60% of the calls the OHC receives are mostly inquiries for quarantine and isolation facilities or those asking assistance with home isolation.
This, he said, is different from previous COVID-19 surges where most callers are asking for referrals to hospitals or intensive care units (ICUs).
As of now, only about 15% are asking for hospital or ICU service referrals.
As of Jan. 12, the Philippines has 208,164 active COVID-19 cases after 32,246 more people were reported to have been infected.