The Philippine General Hospital has begun requiring all medical personnel and visitors to wear masks within the hospital's vicinity, its spokesperson said Wednesday.

"All of those who are entering the vicinity of the PGH are mandated to wear masks, surgical masks in particular," PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said in a television interview.

Del Rosario said the move was due to the reported increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 that also affected the healthcare workers at the hospital.

"There are healthcare workers in the hospital that also tested positive for COVID. That is why we decided to be strict in masking in PGH, primarily to protect our patients," he said.

So far, the PGH has a total of eight COVID patients composed of two adults and six children.

According to Del Rosario, of the six children confined at the hospital, three have severe COVID and pneumonia, two have mild COVID, and one has moderate COVID.

"It was more of incidental cases. They have existing illnesses but they developed fever and later found that they have COVID," he said.

Earlier this week, the Department of Health on Tuesday recorded a total of 1,821 new COVID-19 cases.

Based on the department's latest case bulletin, the daily average cases are now 260, which is 36 percent higher than cases reported last week,

The department also reported 13 new cases of severe and critical cases, as well as 13 deaths over the past week.

"Of the 13 deaths, 3 occurred in December 2023, and 10 in November 2023," it said.

With the new cases, 1,863 out of 11,111 non-intensive care unit cases were now occupied while 176 out of 1,298 ICU beds were occupied.

Meanwhile, 228 beds allotted to severe and critical admissions are currently occupied.

The Health Department previously reported a slow increase in the number of COVID cases, as well as influenza-like illnesses.