97% of COVID-19 beds at PGH currently occupied

Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Image from the PGH Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — Ninety-seven percent of beds for COVID-19 patients at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) are currently occupied, its spokesperson said Wednesday.

In a text message to INQUIRER.net, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said “341 out of 350” beds for COVID-19 patients at the hospital are occupied as of January 17.

Meanwhile, the PGH’s intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients is still 100 percent full.

The bed occupancy at the PGH has been increasing based on reports from the hospital. According to previous Facebook advisories from PGH, the hospital only had 163 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted at the facility as of January 3. This then increased to 275 as of January 10.

Del Rosario said they plan to open up more beds to increase the 350-bed capacity for COVID-19 “as per need basis.”

“We are hoping it is on a downward trend already, although we can add a few more beds as long as we have the manpower to support it,” he added.

The Philippines currently has 284,458 active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday. Meanwhile, Metro Manila has 126,841 active infections.

Independent analytics group OCTA Research says that the daily growth rate of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila is decreasing. However, the Department of Health said it is too early to say that coronavirus infections are already decreasing.

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