AS CASES of coronavirus infection continue to rise, the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, called on hospitals to comply with the 30-percent allocation for probable, suspect and confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the call as 12 hospitals in Luzon have declared that their Covid-19 beds are fully occupied.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the DOH case bulletin showed that infections increased to 57,545, including 634 new cases.
Active cases increased to 35,483. The agency said 95 duplicates were removed from the total case count.
The agency also reported 88 recoveries, or a total of 20,459, and six mortalities, which raised the death toll to 1,603.
Of the six deaths, four occurred in July and two in June. Three were from the National Capital Region, two from Central Visayas and one from Bicol.
In her regular virtual press conference Tuesday, Vergeire said there are 1,312 hospitals and 608 infirmaries in the country, with a total of 107,508 beds.
These include beds in the wards, intensive care units (ICU) and isolation rooms.
Of this total number, Vergeire said only 14,945 (roughly 14 percent) have been allotted for moderately, severely and critically ill Covid-19 patients.
Under DOH Administrative Order 2020-0016, which requires hospitals to allot 30 percent of their capacity to Covid-19 patients, there should be 32,252 Covid-19 beds.
Had all hospitals complied with the 30-percent requirement, there would have been an additional 17,307 beds.
Fully occupied
As of Tuesday, Vergeire said they have listed nine hospitals in Luzon with fully occupied Covid-19 beds.
On Monday, St. Luke’s Medical Center said its two facilities were also full. Makati Medical Center followed with its own announcement that it could no longer accept Covid-19 patients.
On Tuesday, The Medical City also declared full capacity for Covid-19.
The following hospitals are also full, according to the DOH: University of Sto. Tomas Hospital, FY Manalo Medical Foundation, Bataan General Hospital, Qualimed Sta. Rosa, UPH-Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University, Tricity Medical Center, Westlake Medical Center, Antipolo City Medical Hospital and Ortigas Hospital.
All these hospitals, however, still have beds for non-Covid patients, Vergeire said.
Nationwide, Vergeire reiterated that critical care utilization is less than 50 percent. However, she said this is no time to be complacent because there are areas with increasing cases of severe and critical cases such as the NCR and Cebu.
As of July 13, the DOH said ICU beds utilization increased to 47 percent, as 633 are occupied out of the 1,348 ICU beds for Covid-19 patients nationwide.
Increase
The DOH also reported an increase in utilization of isolation beds to 46.7 percent, or 4,845, of the total 10,369 beds nationwide.
Of the 3,481 ward beds, 1,893 or 54.4 percent were occupied, while out of the 1,970 ventilators, DOH said utilization was down to 26.3 percent, or 518 units, on Monday from 77 percent on Sunday.
DOH reported an increase in the number of critically ill patients, who comprised only 0.3 percent of the total case count on July 13. As of July 14, five of every 1,000 (0.5 percent) Covid-19 patients are critically ill while four of every 1,000 patients (0.4 percent) are severely ill.
Among the regions as of July 12, Vergeire said NCR has gone past the warning zone as 73.7 percent (more than seven out of 10) of its isolation beds and 77.4 percent of its ward beds were occupied.
Warning zone
Central Visayas is approaching the warning zone, with 60.2 percent of isolation beds and 67.6 percent of ward beds were occupied.
In Cebu City, which has been dubbed as one of the epicenters of Covid-19 epidemic in the country, DOH reported utilization rates of 71.2 percent of the 73 ICU beds, 81 percent of the 468 isolation beds, 65.6 percent of 224 ward beds and 53.1 percent of 98 mechanical ventilators.
In Mandaue City, 77.8 percent of the 18 ICU beds, 86 percent of the 43 isolation beds and 96.7 percent of the 120 ward beds were occupied while 69.6 percent of 23 ventilators were in use.
In Lapu-Lapu City, there were two ICU beds available as of July 12 while 69.5 percent of 128 isolation beds and 66.7 percent of 33 ward beds were occupied. One of six ventilators were in use.
Mandaue City Jail
At the Mandaue City Jail (MCJ), 208 inmates have recovered from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Only two inmates have been described by MCJ Warden Gil Inopia as the remaining active cases. However, the Mandaue City Public Information Office reported that MCJ has 33 active cases.
Inopia said the two inmates have been isolated in the new MCJ facility in Barangay Basak. The MCJ recorded only one death linked to Covid-19.
The inmates who recovered from Covid-19 had not shown any influenza-like symptoms in the past 14 days. (with KFD)