COVID-19 cases in Philippines hit 57,545; deaths at 1,603
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 6:47 p.m.) — The Philippines reported 634 additional coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, pushing the national caseload to 57,545, as pressure increases on hospitals after the relaxation of containment measures.
Of the newly-announced cases—302 were detected within the last three days, while 332 were from the department’s validation backlog.
Fifty-six percent or 360 of these cases were from Metro Manila, followed by Laguna with 58 cases and Cebu with 32 cases. Bulacan and Cavite accounted for 23 and 21 of these cases, respectively.
The country has been seeing another surge in coronavirus infections since the national government began easing strict restrictions on movement that allowed public transportation to return and more industries to reopen. Only Cebu City remains under enhanced community quarantine at least until July 15.
The Philippines has the second highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, behind Indonesia with Indonesia with over 76,000 cases.
The DOH also logged 88 more people who have recovered from the severe respiratory disease. This raised the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 20,459.
But six more patients have died from COVID-19, bringing the country’s death toll to 1,603. Four of these deaths occurred in July, while two happened in June.
The agency said it has removed 95 duplicates from the case tally.
To date, the number of active cases in the country stood at 35,483.
Full capacity
As COVID-19 cases continued to pile up, several hospitals in Metro Manila announced they had reached full capacity of beds allocated for COVID-19 patients.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the following hospitals had reported that all of their beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients are occupied:
1. University of Santo Tomas Hospital
2. F.Y Manalo Medical Foundation, Inc.
3. Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center
4. Qualimed Health Network Sta. Rosa
5. UPH-Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University Foundation, Inc.
6. Tricity Medical Center, Inc.
7. Westlake Medical Center
8. Antipolo City Medical Hospital
9. Ortigas Hospital and Healthcare Center, Inc.
Large private hospitals Makati Medical Center, St. Luke’s Medical Center and The Medical Capacity also announced they had reached the limits of their COVID-19 bed capacity.
Vergeire said the utilization rate for beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients was at 49% or warning zone.
“Not yet overwhelmed ngunit isang trigger point na mag-signal ng karamptang kilos na kailangang gawin upang makapaghanda tayo kung tumaas ang demand,” Vergeire said.
(Not yet overwhelmed but this is a trigger point to signal the need for action that we need to take to prepare ourselves when demand increases.)
The country has so far tested 939,529 individuals. The government is aiming to test 10 million Filipinos in the next eight to ten months.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 573,000 since the outbreak emerged in China last December. Over 13.10 million cases of COVID-19 have been registered worldwide.
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