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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Need for hospitalization in NCR to remain high - OCTA fellow

Need for hospitalization in NCR to remain high - OCTA fellow

Published Apr 25, 2021 11:04 am

Despite the downtrend in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila, OCTA Research fellow Professor Guido David more people will still require hospitalization as the number of new infections will remain high.

In their latest monitoring report on Sunday, April 25, OCTA Research Group said the reproduction number of COVID-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR) decreased to 0.93 for the week of April 18 to 24.

Citing the data from the Department of Health (DOH) COVID-19 data drop, the independent research group has also observed a downward trend in the number of daily new cases of COVID-19 in Metro Manila.

“Although nag improve na ‘yung trend natin,...the reality is puno pa rin ‘yung hospitals natin (Although our trend has improved,...the reality is that our hospitals are still full), and they will still be full for the next few weeks possibly,” David said in an interview over TeleRadyo on Sunday.

This is because 10 percent out of the average 3,000 daily new cases in the region will require hospitalization based on the data they have analyzed, he added.

“Maraming mangangailangan ng hospitals so we will not get immediate reprieve sa ating hospital system (So many will need hospitalization so we will not get immediate reprieve in our hospital system),” he said.

In their latest report, OCTA said that hospital bed occupancy in NCR decreased to 61 percent, while intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy also declined to 71 percent.

Not enough healthcare workers

The OCTA fellow said that hospital’s in Metro Manila have insufficient number of healthcare workers manning their COVID-19 operations.

“We can increase ‘yung number of beds natin (We can increase ‘the number of beds we have). We even added ICUs. Pero ‘yung pag scale up ng nurses natin, ng healthcare workers, medyo hirap tayo (But‘ the scaling up of our nurses, of healthcare workers, we are having difficulties),” David said.

"And that’s one of the most important factors na dapat ma-scale up natin (that we need to scale up). We can add beds, pero hindi tayo nakakapagdagdag ng (but we haven’t add) enough nurses to accommodate for the increase in cases,” he added.

All metro areas have negative growth rate

Although the growth in some localities in Metro Manila remain unstable, the research fellow said that all local government units (LGUs) in NCR have negative growth rate.

“Right now, lahat ng LGUs sa NCR may (all LGUs in NCR have) negative one-week growth rate. Pero ganun pa man medyo unstable pa ‘yung trend (But the trend is still unstable),” David said.

“‘Yung iba mababa pa ‘yung pagbaba niya, I mean hindi pa ganun ka bilis mag-decrease ‘yung number of cases and we’re hoping maging stable pa yung trend sa pagbaba ng cases (Others still has a slow decline, I mean the decreased in the number of cases is not that fast yet, and we we’re hoping that the downward trend in cases will be stable),” he added.

Experts said the average daily COVID-19 cases in the NCR was 3,841 in the past week, with a one-week growth rate of -20 percent.

“The current average ratio is also 30 percent lower than the average of 5,552 during the peak of the three weeks ago,” OCTA said.

Related Tags

Metro Manila covid-19 OCTA Research Hospitals
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