COVID beds in hospitals nearly full; DOH urges mask mandate for high-risk groups

Beds of three hospitals allocated for COVID-19 cases are almost fully occupied amid a rise in coronavirus cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

Health Undersecretary Eric Tayag said the beds were almost full at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, the National Kidney Transplant Institute, and the Medical City.

“Their COVID-19 case for their allocated beds are almost full in the said hospitals. In total, the other regions are still not experiencing this kind of situation,” Tayag said in an interview on GTV’s Balitanghali.

He said it is up to other hospitals and local government units to issue their advisories regarding the use of face masks.

This came after the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) began implementing the mandatory use of face masks inside the hospital.

According to the DOH, the Philippines has recorded a total of 4,128,107 COVID-19 cases, of which 3,943 remain active. A total of 66,779 people have died from the disease.

“Even if there’s still no mask mandate and the PGH is reminding everyone to wear masks, based on our risk assessment of various hospitals or the local government units, they can advise on the wearing of face masks,” Tayag said.

“For us in the Department of Health, the wearing of face masks is recommended for senior citizens, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised, especially those who have yet to complete their COVID-19 vaccination,” he added.

According to Tayag, the DOH recorded 1,910 new COVID-19 cases from Dec. 2 to 11.

“This equals 260 new cases every day compared to the previous week, which is a hundred cases per day. So it’s increasing,” he said.

However, Tayag said the DOH currently does not have any plans to make the wearing of face masks mandatory amid the holiday season.

But he advised the public to refrain from visiting areas that are too crowded or to wear a face mask and get tested for COVID-19 if they would do so.

Tayag also denied that the rise in cases is related to mycoplasm pneumoniae or the “walking pneumonia.”

The DOH previously said that all four cases of walking pneumonia in the country have recovered.

“This may be related to the lockdown because the movement of many was restricted during the lockdown, so they could not build up enough immune boosting so this is happening,” he said.

— with Macon Ramos-Araneta