BAGUIO CITY – The City Health Service Office (CHSO) here reported the death of two patients related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and 52 new infections on Saturday, December 19.
CHSO said the first fatality was a 60-year-old male, who was admitted at the Pines City Doctors Hospital on December18, due to acute respiratory failure, and was diagnosed to be infected with COVID-19.
The second fatality was a 59-year-old female, who was admitted at the Baguio City General Hospital and Medical Center on December 17, and died on December 19 due to acute coronary syndrome, acute respiratory failure from COVID-19 pneumonia, among other ailments.
According to CHSO, from December 1 to December 19, the city recorded 13 fatalities for a total of 54 deaths since March.
There were also 353 remaining active cases, with 3,193 recoveries out of a total of 3,599 confirmed cases.
Of the new cases, 34 are contact traced that included 10 minors, and six senior citizens, while 11 were traced through expanded testing, and seven were symptomatic.
CHSO Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said the city was ready for any surge in the number of COVID-19 cases that may arise after the Yuletide season as there will be an expected series of discharges from the isolation units managed by the city government and the various private and public hospitals.
She said the occupancy rate of existing isolation units in the city was at a little more than 29 percent, which is within the safe category while the occupancy of hospitals is now on the warning and critical levels.
At the city’s central isolation unit in the former Sto. Niño hospital that has a bed capacity of 233, she reported that 78 beds were occupied, 33 beds were unavailable because of the ongoing renovation, while 122 beds were available for occupancy.
At the Baguio Teachers Camp, 61 beds were occupied at the Roxas Hall, while 22 beds were unavailable, and 33 beds were available for occupancy.
She claimed that, at the 27-bed Magsaysay Hall, eight were already occupied, leaving 19 beds ready for occupancy.
At the 53-bed V Dorm 3 under the Oplan Kalinga of the national task force, there were 11 occupied beds and 39 beds ready for occupancy, while at the Ferioni apartments that has a capacity of 60 beds, only one was occupied.
She added that the city has worked out the use of the Laurel 2 Dorm with a bed capacity of 102 for health workers, who may need to be confined while on their way to recovery.
Galpo reported that public and private hospitals in the city have 232 available beds for COVID-19 patients, in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11494, or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, mandating government and private hospitals to designate 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively of their hospital beds for COVID cases.