DoH sees uptick in Covid cases
Herbosa attributed the scarcity of Covid beds to the lower supply of the same compared to the peak of the pandemic.
Daily TribuneHerbosa attributed the scarcity of Covid beds to the lower supply of the same compared to the peak of the pandemic.
With the Christmas season just around the corner, the Department of Health has seen an uptick in the cases of Covid-19, with nearly 2,000 cases in just one week.
From 5 to 11 December, the Health agency logged 1,821 Covid cases, raising the daily average to 260 from last week's 191 cases per day. Of the total, 13 cases were tagged severe or critical.
It has been five months since the DoH last recorded more than 200 new cases of Covid-19.
Currently, some hospital Covid wards nationwide are also almost fully occupied owing to the uptick in infections. However, DoH chief Teodoro Herbosa said over the weekend, that this is still not a cause for concern.
Herbosa attributed the scarcity of Covid beds to the lower supply of the same compared to the peak of the pandemic.
"Yes, there's a slight uptick. Yes, some hospitals have filled up the Covid-19 beds, but the context is that the Covid-19 beds have decreased," he said.
Herbosa explained that more resources are being allocated for patients with other illnesses, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
He likewise ascribed the minimal rise in cases to "parties, family reunions and the many people in shopping malls and public places."
Herbosa, on the other hand, guaranteed that the statistics "is still not as much higher than compared to the similar months last year."
Previously, the DoH reported that some 253 severe and critical Covid patients were admitted to hospitals due to Covid as of 3 December. It added that around 158 or 11.6 percent of 1,361 coronavirus ICU beds were occupied.
In the wake of rising cases, several government offices and hospitals, such as the Bureau of Corrections and the Philippine General Hospital, started to reimpose mandatory mask-wearing within their facilities to forestall the spread of Covid-19 and the threat of mycoplasma pneumonia infection or "walking pneumonia."
Earlier in July, the President lifted the state of public health emergency that had previously been declared throughout the country owing to the Covid-19 pandemic through Proclamation No. 297.