By ANALOU DE VERA
COVID-19 cases in the country exceeded the 85,000 projection of experts from the University of the Philippines for the end of July after nearly 2,000 infections were recorded Wednesday.
Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported 1,874 new infections, raising the total number of COVID-19 cases to 85,486 with 56,528 active cases.
The Philippines’ COVID-19 tally had also breached the earlier projection of UP experts of 60,000 by the end of this month. This was breached last July 16 as 61,266 cases were reported.
Of the new cases, 728 came from the National Capital Region, 325 from Cebu, 130 from Laguna, 67 from Iloilo, and 53 from Rizal.
Vergeire also reported that 388 more people were able to recover, pushing the tally of reported recoveries to 26,996. The death toll rose to 1,962 as 16 new patients succumbed to the dreaded illness.
“There were 61 duplicates that were removed from the total case count. Moreover, we have updated the outcomes of three cases. One was previously reported as death but updated as recovered; and two cases were previously reported as recovered but updated as deaths after final validation; these are already included in the count of new deaths and recoveries,” the DoH noted in its case bulletin.
Vergeire said that those that are mild and asymptomatic patients should be treated in temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs).
“As of July 28, there are still unoccupied beds in our hospitals. The total bed occupancy is at 50 percent for the whole country,” said Vergeire.
“It is important to know given the supplies of beds — mild and asymptomatic patients should be treated in TTMFs and not in hospitals to ensure adequacy of hospital beds for patients,” she added.
According to the Health official,v “there are 81,636 beds in our TTMFs (across the country) with an overall percent occupancy of 24 percent” as of July 28.
However, the TTMFs utilization in the NCR and the regions of Ilocos, Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Socsargen are now in the “30 to 70 percent utilization or in the warning zone,” said Vergeire.
“To avoid burdening our healthcare facilities, healthcare workers, and our community, we ask the public to be the solution. Huwag makampante, sa halip maging responsable. Mag mask, physical distancing, at sumunod po tayo sa tamang cough etiquette at sanitation protocols (Do not be complacent, but be responsible. Wear a mask, practice physical distancing, follow proper cough etiquette and other sanitation protocols),” said Vergeire.
