The country so far has sufficient hospital beds to accommodate patients with the new coronavirus disease, Malacañang said Tuesday on the eve of the government's decision on the country’s new quarantine classification.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega has put in place a system to optimize the country's healthcare capacity as well as ensure coordination among hospitals on the transfer of patients.

Vega has recently been designated as the country's "treatment czar" as he heads the hospital incident command.

"Siya 'yung nagko-coordinate sa mga ospital, siya iyong nagli-liaison para kung puno ang ICU ng isang pribadong hospital, mayroong mapagre-refer-an na hospital, hindi itataboy ang pasyente dahil wala na rin silang espasyo; sasabihin kung saan dapat pumunta (He will coordinate with the hospitals, liaison with them so if the ICU of a private hospital is full, the patient may be referred to another hospital. The patient will not be turned away just because they have no more room. The person will be informed where to go)," he said during a televised press briefing.

"Overall, sapat-sapat naman po ang ating mga hospital beds kasama na na po diyan iyong ating mga ICU beds (Overall, our hospital beds including our ICU beds are sufficient)," he added.

Roque also appealed to patients to heed the hospital's advice in case they will be referred to another facility. "Huwag na tayong mag-insist, huwag na tayong mag-worry kung puno ang isang ospital, ire-refer naman po kayo sa iba pang ospital. (Do not insist, do not worry if the hospital is full. You will be referred to another hospital)," he said.

Private hospitals have already been advised by Vega to increase the allotment of beds for COVID-19 patients in case of an increase in cases, according to Roque.

"I understand dito sa mga pribadong ospital na ito, nakikiusap po ngayon ang gobyerno kung puno na iyong 30% capacity for ICU (intensive care unit) beds, kung pupuwede gawing 50% capacity naman for COVID patients. (I understand that the government has appealed to private hospitals to rase to 50 percent bed capacity for COVID patients if the 30 percent capacity for ICU beds is full)," he said.

Vega earlier said the critical care capacity for ICU beds has reached the "danger zone" as the occupancy rate stood at 70 percent.  Among the immediate steps he proposed are to expand hospital capacity by increasing COVID bed allocations, provide additional health care personnel even for private hospitals, and boost medical supply for all hospitals.

Four major private hospitals in Metro Manila recently announced they have reached full capacity for treatment of COVID patients.

Quarantine status of Metro Manila 

Roque maintained that the government is unlikely to downgrade Metro Manila to modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) from the current general community quarantine (GCQ).

He said the case doubling rate in Metro Manila ranged between seven to 10 days, far from the 18-day requirement to earn the MGCQ status. Its critical care utilization rate is now at 70 percent which is still “manageable,” he said.

"Mabuti naman po talaga tayo ano na hindi po tayo talaga dapat tumaas ng klasipikasyon. Pero hindi po pupuwedeng magluwag, kasi ang MGCQ po ay almost 18 days po iyan, iyong case doubling rate (It's good that we won't escalate to a higher classification but we cannot relax it because you must have an 18-day case doubling rate of 18 days to move to MGCQ status)," he said.

The President is expected to announce the country's new quarantine status on Wednesday after meeting with the government task force on the pandemic response.