Monday, March 15, 2021

Hospitals hitting capacity; gov’t says no lockdown. Inquirer Newsletter. March 16, 2021.

SANITATION CREW Workers from the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office sanitize the streets of Barangay 163 at Gagalangin in Tondo district. Six villages in Manila will be placed on lockdown for four days starting Wednesday to control the spread of the coronavirus in these areas. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Regions

Cordillera logs 16 new UK variant cases

BAGUIO CITY—Sixteen new cases of the UK variant of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were recorded in the Cordillera, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday. —Story by VINCENT CABREZA AND KIMBERLIE QUITASOL INQ

Lifestyle Wellness

Keeping fit with just body weight and little equipment

Kevin Lapeña has always been into fitness. “My dad’s a fitness professional, and someone who’s really passionate about sports and keeping healthy. So I suppose it was natural for me to have picked up on it at an early age. —Story by Pam Pastor

Newsletter / Join us

Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19.

Banner Story

Hospitals hitting capacity; gov’t says no lockdown

By Dona Z. Pazzibugan

Hospitals in Metro Manila and the Cordillera Administrative Region are running out of beds for critically ill COVID-19 patients as coronavirus cases surge to post the highest daily count this year.

In Metro Manila, according to data as of the weekend from the Department of Health (DOH), seven out of 10 of the 679 intensive-care beds meant for COVID-19 patients are occupied.

Six out of 10 of the 4,094 isolation beds are being used by COVID-19 patients.

About a third of the 808 mechanical ventilators in Metro Manila’s hospitals are being used by COVID-19 patients, while about four out of 10 of the 3,006 ward beds for COVID-19 patients are occupied.

Out of 149 hospitals in Metro Manila, 40 are in danger of being overrun with COVID-19 cases. Eighteen of these hospitals are in a “critical” situation with at least 85 percent bed occupancy, while 22 other hospitals are in “high risk” of being overrun, with bed occupancy of 70 percent to 84 percent.

In Cordillera, 77 percent of the 48 intensive-care beds allocated for COVID-19 patients are occupied, while the 426 isolation beds for COVID-19 patients are 53 percent occupied.

Out of the 250 ward beds for COVID-19 patients in the region, 138 or 55 percent are occupied, while 11 out of 39 mechanical ventilators, or 28 percent, are occupied.

In Metro Manila, hitting capacity are Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila and St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City and Taguig.

Speaking for PGH in a radio interview on Monday, Dr. Jonas del Rosario said the hospital had 134 COVID-19 patients and more were scheduled to be admitted.

“This is our highest case number for the last four months. It has decreased before—we were only at 60 to 70 patients per day. But now it has doubled,” Del Rosario said. —WITH REPORTS FROM JEROME ANING, MARICAR CINCO, CRISTINA ELOISA BACLIG AND JODEE A. AGONCILLO INQ

Editorial

From ambush to shootout

In just the past two weeks, the PNP has seen its already checkered record breaching even more appalling depths, first with the 'shootout' (that word again) with members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency where two officers were killed, then the massacre of Calabarzon activists, and now the Calbayog ambush.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net