2 Manila hospitals limit patient admissions due to spike in COVID cases

ABS-CBN News – Posted at Jan 02 2022 08:09 AM

MANILA – Two Manila hospitals have announced they are temporarily limiting patient admissions due to rising COVID-19 infections, including among its health care workers.

In an advisory, the Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital (JJASGH) said it was going to stop admitting patients staring 8 p.m. of Saturday (Jan. 1). 

“The number of COVID patients is greater than the number of beds. Thus, the hospital must first close so it can send home or transfer other admitted patients to quarantine facilities,” JJASGH said in a statement posted on the Manila Public Information Office’s Facebook page.

The hospital added that many of its staff tested positive for the virus.

The Gat Andres Bonifacio Medical Center also announced it will temporarily stop admitting patients in its emergency room due to an increase in COVID-19 infections among employees.

“All incoming patients shall still be evaluated and transferred to other city hospitals,” GABMC Director Dr. Ted Martin said in a statement.

As of Jan. 1, Manila City has 435 active COVID-19 cases.

The Department of Health on the same day reported 3,617 new COVID-19 cases all over the country, the highest count recorded since Oct. 10.

The growing caseload has pushed the government to again place Metro Manila under the stricter Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3 until 15.

The government attributed the spike in new cases to increased mobility during the holiday season. It has yet to confirm whether the spike in infections is driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

The Philippines has so far detected 14 omicron infections.

SOURCE: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/02/22/2-manila-hospitals-limit-patient-admissions-due-to-rising-covid-cases