PH logs 19K new Covid-19 recoveries

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday recorded an additional 19,191 recoveries from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

In its latest case bulletin, the agency said this pushed the recovery tally to 1,760,013.

The country also logged 19,441 new infections — the highest single-day record of cases since the start of the pandemic. This also brought the active case count to 142,679.

New fatalities reported, meanwhile, are at 167 with the death toll reaching 33,008.

The DOH said a total of 1,935,700 have been infected with Covid-19 since March 2020, of which 7.4 percent are active cases, 90.9 percent are recoveries, while 1.71 percent are fatalities.

Of those recuperating, 95.5 percent have mild symptoms, 1.8 percent are asymptomatic, 0.6 percent are critical, 1.1 percent are severe, while 0.99 percent are moderate.

The agency said 71,620 were tested on August 26, of whom 27.5 percent turned out positive.

Nationwide, about 74 percent of the 4,100 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are utilized as well as 63 percent of the 20,500 isolation beds and 70 percent of 14,600 ward beds dedicated for Covid-19 patients.

In Metro Manila, occupied is 73 percent of the total 1,400 ICU beds, 62 percent of 4,700 isolation beds, and 73 percent of the 4,200 ward beds.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said almost 50 percent of the hospitals in the National Capital Region have reached a 70 percent occupancy rate.

For ICU utilization rate, only six cities in the capital region are at 60 percent while the rest is more than 70 percent utilized.

“So ginagawan natin ‘yan ng mga kaukulang tulong. We are assisting to expand beds and to place tents and modular hospitals dito sa mga lugar na ito para maka-accommodate pa tayo ng mas maraming pasyente (We are responding to this. We are assisting to expand beds and to place tents and modular hospitals in the concerned areas so that we can accommodate more patients),” she said.

Meanwhile, she asked all those who exhibit symptoms to contact their barangays first as the One Hospital Command Center is overwhelmed, with the number of calls reaching around 500 daily.

“Nag-expand na tayo ng services diyan at nag-deploy na tayong mas maraming tao may traffic po talaga at atin pong inaamin yan (We have already expanded our services there but we admit that there is traffic),” she said.

“So, local governments are your first step. Sila po ang una niyong tawagan, sila po ang makakatulong sa inyo para malaman kung saan pong facility kayo dapat dalhin kung dapat sa temporary treatment and monitoring facility o kailangang sa ospital na (They should be the first ones that you call because they will be the determine the facility you will be placed in whether it’s a temporary and monitoring facility or a hospital),” she added.