Ospital ng Tondo on 10-day shutdown after 32 doctors, nurses fall ill
MANILA, Philippines — Another Manila City hospital has been forced to temporarily close after 32 of its doctors and nurses fell ill while tending to COVID-19 patients.
The Ospital ng Tondo will be on a ten-day shutdown starting August 14, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno told radio dzMM Friday.
The mayor assured the public that treatment for patients who are already confined in the Ospital ng Tondo will continue throughout the temporary closure.
"Now, another thing, if for example, there are emergency cases that are life or death situations, we will continue to accept them. But, if they are not [life or death cases], we will refer you to our five other hospitals," Moreno added in a mix of English and Filipino.
This marks the second temporary shutdown for the Ospital ng Maynila, which first closed from May 11 to May 24 for the same concerns.
The Ospital ng Maynila was also closed from July 31 to August 9 after at least 15 of its medical frontliners tested positive for novel coronavirus.
Latest data from the Department of Health shows that the City of Manila has logged a total of 9,743 infections and 162 deaths as of August 13.
It ranks only second to Quezon City in terms of total COVID-19 cases among local government units.
Meanwhile, Monday saw another record-breaking high of almost 7,000 new infections nationwide, while over 4,000 new cases logged on Thursday upped the national caseload to 147, 526.
At the urging of medical frontliners who said they were increasingly overwhelmed by the surge in COVID-19 cases, President Rodrigo Duterte reverted Metro Manila and nearby provinces to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine until at least August 18.
Friday marks the 150th day that the country has been under community quarantine — the longest in the world. — Bella Perez-Rubio
This thread will be updated with developments on the political race in Metro Manila.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte takes her oath of office on June 30, the day her three-year term officially starts.
Joy Belmonte is officially the 13th mayor of Quezon City. She won by a margin of 100,000 votes during the May midterm polls. | @rominaprecab pic.twitter.com/khxFeqExDN
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) June 30, 2019
Belmonte was previously vice mayor of the city.
Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada says he is "leaving the city in good hands" as he meets with Mayor-elect Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, his former vice mayor and his rival in the midterm elections in May.
Outgoing Mayor Erap Estrada urge Manileños to rally behind Isko Moreno as he leaves the city. | @reygalupo
— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) June 17, 2019
Estrada's loss was among a series of electoral defeats for the family in the local race in San Juan City and in the national elections, where half-brothers Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. JV Ejercito both failed to win in the 12-seat race.
Domagoso said City Hall employees should not worry about their jobs and that they will not be transferred out.
Pasig mayor-elect Vico Sotto also says he has no plans to join the ruling PDP-Laban party of President Rodrigo Duterte as he prefers a small political party.
Sotto belongs to Aksyon Demokratiko party.
Pasig City Mayor-elect Vico Sotto says he hopes reports that his opponent Bobby Eusebio is mulling to file an election protest against his camp aren't true.
"I really think if he does push through with it, siya naman po ang mapapahiya... It's his right he can do it if he wants... It's time for us to move forward," Sotto says in an interview over ANC's "Headstart."
"Siya naman ang mapapahiya." Pasig City Mayor-elect Vico Sotto calls on his opponent Bobby Eusebio to "move forward" amid reports that the latter is mulling to file an election protest against the camp of Sotto. #ANCHeadstart pic.twitter.com/WXDnLYptvN
— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) May 20, 2019
Having ended the 50-year streak of the Estrada-Ejercito clan, Francis Zamora, the new mayor of San Juan, tells ANC that he learned from his 2016 mayoral defeat against the family.
He claims that after he lost, he did not stop being of service to communities in the lead up to the May 13 election.
Zamora is a basketball player by profession.
While he is credited for denying an extension in the dynastic term of the Estrada-Ejercito clan, Zamora himself comes from a political family in San Juan.
- Latest
- Trending
