Cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country grew to 82,040 with 1,657 new cases  confirmed Monday.

The Department of Health (DoH) said of the new confirmed cases, 1,017 were from the National Capital Region while the rest were scattered in Laguna, Cavite, Cebu, Rizal, and other areas in the country.

There were also 359 new recoveries with the nationwide recovery tally now numbering 26,446.

Meanwhile, 16 fatalities were added to the death toll, which is now at 1,945.

As of July 27, the case doubling time is 8.87 days while the mortality doubling time is at 12.72 days, classified both “better,” by the DoH.

As to the testing capacity of the country, the DoH said a total of 1,262,416 individuals have already been covered in their continued testing implementation.

Meanwhile, 53 percent of the intensive care unit beds reserved for COVID-19 cases nationwide are now occupied, while 57 percent of ward beds dedicated for COVID-19 patients are also being utilized.

As to ventilators, 28 percent are now being used, along with 51 percent of isolation beds.

Hospital situations

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire  also said Monday they will not shut down the Philippine Orthopedic Center.

“It's not possible to close the entire Philippine Orthopedic Center because it is a big hospital that provides many services. If it needs to be locked down, only those affected units of the hospitals should be ordered to temporarily shut down so they can disinfect, decontaminate. But closing the whole hospital is not acceptable and it is really not recommended,” Vergeire noted.

“We do this strategically, we close down units of the hospitals if needed if there are highly infected employees or a huge number of contamination so that we can decontaminate but not close the whole hospital,” she added.

As of July 27, the hospital was able to test 85 percent of its employees.

It was also reported that the Lung Center of the Philippines has expanded its bed capacity to 70 percent to accommodate more patients.