Around 1,000 more hospital beds will be built in Metro Manila to cope with the potential rise in COVID-19 cases as the country prepares to allow more activities aimed at restarting the economy after nearly six months of stringent quarantine measures.
National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said more hospitals beds will be built at the Philippne General Hospital (PGH) in Manila, Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City, and Quezon Institute in Quezon City among others.
"Nakikita po natin na kapag nag-open po ay may possibility po na umangat po ang mga severe cases (We see that there is a possibility of an increase in the number of severe cases if we open )," Galvez reported in a meeting presided over by President Duterte on Monday night.
"Kapag nagplano po tayo na magluwag sa ekonomiya kailangan po talaga palakasin po natin ang treatment facility especially po 'yung ICU at ating mga ER (If we plan to open the economy, we need to strengthen our treatment facility especially our intensive care units and emergency rooms)," he added.
On Monday night's meeting, Duterte announced the new quarantine classification of areas in the country for the period September 1 to 30.
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, Tacloban City and Bacolod City were placed under general community quarantine (GCQ).
Iligan City was reverted to the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). The rest of the country was plced under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Galvez said Metro Manila continues to be one of the NTF's "focus areas" or those areas being monitored closely due to a high number of reported infections.
Other areas are Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Batangas in Calabarzon (Region 4B); Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales in Central Luzon (Region 3).
He also noted a spike of cases in Iligan City and Zamboanga City due to the arrival of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and Overseas Filipinos (OFs).
In Western Visayas, Galvez said among the areas being monitored include Iloilo City, Iloilo province, Negros Occidental and Bacolod.
However, the NTF chief implementer told Duterte that the NTF is "happy" since he observed that the health care workers "are working tirelessly."
"Natutuwa po kami dahil kasi sa pagbisita po namin sa mga ospital, nakita po namin talaga na 'yung ating mga doktor at saka mga nurses, wala pong tigil ang kanilang pagtatrabaho (We are happy because when we visited the hospitals, we that saw our doctors and nurses are working tirelessly)," he said.