MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines on Friday reported a spike in the number of medical frontliners who are infected with the coronavirus, worsening the struggle faced by the country’s dilapidated healthcare system that is creaking under the weight of rising infections.
As of May 1, a total of 1,694 healthcare workers in the country contracted the highly contagious coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), up from 1,619 reported in the previous day, data from the health department showed. Of those infections, 33 medical workers died while 256 recovered.
Broken down, 24 out of 566 doctors who fell ill died due to the virus while seven out of 638 infected nurses passed away. Infections were also detected among nursing assistants (104), medical technologists (66), radiologic technologists (32), respiratory therapists (18), midwives (19) and pharmacists (14).
Meanwhile, 237 others in the medical field also tested positive for the virus.
While medical workers have won praise in the country, the rising number of infections in their ranks highlights the strain they face in battling the dreaded disease amid a shortage of protective gear, manpower and testing capacity.
As of Friday afternoon, the total count of COVID-19 patients in the country jumped to 8,772. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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