Nearly half of Tala hospital staff under quarantine

MANILA, Philippines — Close to half of the health-care workers at Dr. Jose N. Rodriquez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Caloocan City are under quarantine, according to its medical director Dr. Alfonso Victorino Famaran Jr.

Famaran said 510 out of the 1,300 in the facility, also known as Tala Hospital, were quarantined at home. But Famaran said the operations of the hospital will continue after 229 additional healthcare workers from the Department of Health and Philippine National Police General Hospital were deployed to Tala.

Famaran said 53 percent of the hospital’s beds had been occupied. Most, or 94 percent, of the COVID-19 cases were moderate, 3 percent severe and 2.6 percent critical.

—LEILA B. SALAVERRIA