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Metro Manila hospitals brace for post-holiday COVID-19 surge

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Gillan Ropero, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/12/14/20200708-lung-center-hospital-gc-5083.jpg"/><figcaption>Facade of the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City on July 8, 2020. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA (UPDATE) - At least two COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila have prepared in advance for a possible surge in coronavirus cases following the holidays, their officials said Monday.The Philippine General Hospital has continued its coronavirus operations since it became a referral center last March 30, said spokesperson Jonas del Rosario.&quot;Handa po kami, di naman namin binawasan ang mga kama sa COVID. Tuloy po ang COVID operations ng PGH,&quot; he told ABS-CBN&#x27;s Teleradyo.(We&#x27;re ready. The number of our COVID beds remain. The COVID operations of PGH continue.)&quot;Sana nga po di magkaroon ng surge na medyo mataas dahil binubuksan na po talaga namin ang aming ospital para sa non-COVID patients na dumadami na talaga.&quot;(We hope there won&#x27;t be a surge that&#x27;s too high because we&#x27;re opening up our hospital to non-COVID patients whose numbers are rising.)It currently has 97 cases of COVID-19 out of its some 200-bed capacity, Del Rosario said as he noted a decrease within the past 2 months.The Lung Center of the Philippines, meantime, has 27 virus patients out of its 70-bed capacity for COVID, according to Antonio Ramos, head of its administrative services.&quot;That’s 37 percent occupancy rate for COVID para mas madami kaming matingnan na hindi COVID pero pag kinakailangan pwede namin ibalik sa COVID designation ang mga ito,&quot; he said.(That’s 37 percent occupancy rate for COVID so we can look at more non-COVID patients. But if needed, we can revert the beds back to COVID designation.)&quot;We’re expecting after Christmas break, 2-3 weeks after that, kung di mag-iingat ang mga Pilipino tataas talaga &#x27;yan. Pinaghahandaan &#x27;yan.&quot;(We’re expecting a surge after Christmas break, 2-3 weeks after that, if Filipinos won&#x27;t be careful.)Healthcare workers&#x27; level of anxiety in handling COVID-19 cases has decreased due to a better work system, Del Rosario said.&quot;In terms of pagiging overwhelmed, we’re past that. Siguro marami na kaming natutunan, mas maganda na yung sistema. Di ko naman masabing mas matatapang pero siguro mas sanay na kaming mag-alaga sa may COVID,&quot; he said.(In terms of being overwhelmed we’re past that, we&#x27;ve learned many things and the system is better. I can&#x27;t say we&#x27;re braver but we&#x27;re more accustomed to caring for COVID patients.)&quot;But just the same sino ba naman ang may gustong mag-alaga nito kaya patuloy ang aming pananawagan kasama ang ibang hospital na sana tuloy-tuloy na ang pagkontrol ng COVID nang mas masaya ang Pasko at Bagong Taon.&quot;(But just the same, we urge everyone to continue controlling the spread of COVID-19 so we can have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.)<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SiabebNd0jY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>The Philippines as of Sunday reported 449,400 cases of COVID-19, with 21,980 active infections.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/13/20/philippines-covid-19-tally-nears-450000-with-over-1000-new-cases">Philippines&#x27; COVID-19 tally nears 450,000 with over 1,000 new cases</a></li></ul>The country may end the year with 480,000 virus cases, the OCTA Research Group warned. It urged the public to continue observing minimum health protocols to avoid a COVID-19 surge in 1 to 2 months.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/11/20/philippines-may-end-2020-with-480000-covid-19-cases-octa">Philippines may end 2020 with 480,000 COVID-19 cases: OCTA</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/12/10/20/analysts-warn-public-vs-relaxing-guard-during-pandemic-as-holidays-near">Analysts warn public vs relaxing guard during pandemic, as holidays near</a></li></ul>&quot;Hindi pa yan ang (It&#x27;s not the) worse that can happen. Actually pwedeng mas mataas pa dyan. Ngayon patuloy siyang tumataas pero ayun nga baka yung mga tao sinasabi &#x27;di pa naman dumadami ang bilang ng kaso,&quot; Professor Guido David told ABS-CBN&#x27;s Teleradyo.(It can be higher than that. It continues to go up and people might be thinking the number of cases has yet to increase.)&quot;&#x27;Yun ang nangyari nung June-July, tumataas ang reproduction number pero at the time mababa pa ang bilang ng kaso so parang kampante tayo hanggang sumabog na siya.&quot;(That&#x27;s what happened in June-July, the reproduction number was increasing but the number of cases at the time was still low so we were complacent until it exploded.)The country&#x27;s reproduction rate or the number of new infections generated by each case has increased to 1.06 this week and may rise to 1.2 by end of the month, David said.&quot;Gusto nating buksan ang economy ngayong Pasko pero sana pagkatapos ay pwede nating pahigpitan nang kaunti para di na tumaas ulit,&quot; he said.(We want to open the economy this Christmas but we hope afterwards measures will be tightened a little so cases would not rise.)&quot;Pag tumaas ang bilang ng kaso by Jan. 1, sana ibalik natin nang kaunti ang restrictions para bumaba na itong reproduction number at bumaba ang bilang ng kaso.&quot;(We hope that if cases rise by Jan. 1 restrictions would be re-implemented to lower the reproduction number and virus cases.)<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q_eJqm9EzSo?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

At least two COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila have prepared in advance for a possible surge in coronavirus cases following the holidays, their officials said Monday.

At least two COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila have prepared in advance for a possible surge in coronavirus cases following the holidays, their officials said Monday.

Metro Manila hospitals brace for post-holiday COVID-19 surge

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Metro Manila hospitals brace for post-holiday COVID-19 surge

Gillan Ropero,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 14, 2020 08:29 AM PHT

|

Updated Dec 14, 2020 12:52 PM PHT

Read More:

Teleradyo

PGH

Lung Center of the Philippines

holiday COVID-19 surge

Philippine General Hospital

Philippines COVID-19 cases

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