Hospitals seeing uptick in COVID-19 cases —doctors group

Hospitals have begun seeing a fresh uptick in COVID-19 cases, the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) said Thursday as the country gears for the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, PCP president Dr. Maricar Limpin said this was based on an increasing number of patients going to COVID-19 emergency rooms.

“Medyo nararamdaman na talaga namin ‘yung pagtaas ng mga kaso, lalong lalo na starting mga latter part of last week, nag-umpisa na medyo napansin naming dumadami. Maski hanggang linggong ito ay medyo mas marami talaga,” she said.

(We have been feeling the rise in cases, especially since the latter part of last week, when we started to notice that cases were increasing. Even until this week, cases are slightly higher.)

Limpin also noted that infections are increasing even among health workers.

“Eventually po, ‘pag talagang masyadong marami ‘yung kaso tapos apektado rin ‘yung mga healthcare workers natin… magkakakulang-kulangan na naman po ‘yan pero as usual kami naman po ay magre-respond diyan,” she said.

(Eventually, once cases get too high and our healthcare workers are also affected… we will be understaffed again but as usual we will respond to that.)

Limpin stressed the need to prepare respiratory equipment and supplies like ventilators and oxygen tanks, especially in far-flung areas.

She attributed the increase in cases to relaxed border controls, decreased adherence to health protocols, especially in public transportation, and the detection of the Delta variant.

Limpin called on the government to provide adequate public utility vehicles to avoid overcrowding in public transport.

“Kailangan po tayong medyo maghigpit. Unang una kasi, marami din po tayong mga gaps sa pag-contain nitong pandemic at isa po ‘yung transportation,” she said.

(We need to tighten restrictions a bit. We have a lot of gaps in containing this pandemic and one of those is transportation.)

The Philippines has so far detected 35 Delta variant cases, eight of which remain active.

The OCTA Research group has warned that new COVID-19 cases may spike to 10,000 in the coming weeks.

Malacañang earlier said some restrictions will likely be reimposed to stem the spread of the Delta variant.—AOL, GMA News