Governors to discuss IATF rules amid rising COVID-19 infection rate — LPP exec

The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) is set to discuss on Thursday certain rules in light of the COVID-19 pandemic amid the rising infection rate of the disease, its president said on Wednesday.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, LPP president Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. expressed concern on isolation facilities and hospitals reaching full capacity.

“Magmi-meeting nga po kami bukas ng mga governors patungkol din po sa mga IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) rules,” he said.

(We governors will have a meeting tomorrow regarding the IATF rules),” he said.

Velasco made the statement when asked about One Hospital Command, a system that helps COVID-19 patients find health facilities with vacant hospital beds where they can be accommodated.

According to Velasco, some hospitals are already near reaching full capacity and they need more healthcare workers to take care of infected patients.

The LPP president also asked the national government to look into the supply of oxygen tanks.

On Monday, the OCTA Research group said the country's COVID-19 reproduction number went up to 1.5 on Sunday, and it is possible that new COVID-19 cases may reach almost 16,000 per day next week

"Sa buong Pilipinas, 1.5 reproduction number. Tumataas pa rin," OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said in an interview on Unang Balita on Monday.

(In the entire Philippines, the reproduction number is 1.5. It is still going up.)

The reproduction number, which refers to the number of people that each COVID-19 case can infect, was at 1.46 for the whole country from August 8 to 14.

This was when the average new COVID-19 cases per day reached 11,000, the group said.

On Tuesday, the number of COVID-19  cases in the country rose to 1,765,675 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 10,035 new infections.

The DOH said the total recoveries climbed to 1,629,426 after 10,858 more patients recovered from the illness while 96 new fatalities brought the death toll to 30,462.

At least 105,787 are still active cases. — RSJ, GMA News