Marikina residents receive the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Marikina Sports Complex, Marikina City on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — There was a “slight increase” in COVID-19 admissions in private hospitals in the country, but the hospital utilization rate remains “manageable” despite the local transmission of an Omicron subvariant, the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) said on Saturday.
Dr. Jose Rene De Grano, president of PHAPI, said at the Laging Handa briefing that the slight increase should not be a cause for concern as most of the symptomatic patients were not severe or critical.
“Actually, there is a slight increase in admissions but our private hospitals are still manageable so far,” De Grano said.
“We’re not too worried because most of the symptomatic [patients] that we have admitted aren’t that bad right now,” he added.
On May 17, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that it had detected the local transmission of the highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.
The DOH also reported on Thursday that the COVID-19 reproduction rate in Metro Manila increased to 1.25 on May 23 from 1.05 on May 13 to May 19.
The DOH, however, assured the public that the threat of the new COVID-19 subvariants had not caused a surge in hospital admissions.
The government is eyeing to vaccinate 77 million Filipinos against COVID-19 by the end of June.
On Friday, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, chair of the National Vaccination Operations Center, said 69.1 million individuals in the country have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 73.7 million have been vaccinated with at least one dose as of May 26.
De Grano also said that their member hospitals were also prepared for the possible entry of monkeypox into the country, citing that hospitals already have their isolation wards.
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