More and more children are being admitted with COVID-19 in private hospitals, according to the Private Hospitals Association Philippines.
In an interview with Teleradyo, PHAPI President Jose Rene de Grano said that most of the cases coincide with those confined due to other illnesses such as the flu.
As a result, the number of pediatric patients in private hospitals is increasing.
“Napapasabay ‘yan doon sa pagtaas talaga ng mga sakit ngayon. ‘Di ba ‘pag third quarter ng taon, dumarating ang dengue, typhoid, ganiyan, saka ‘yong mga flu kaya nagsasabayan po ‘yan,” said De Grano.
“Talagang maraming bata din ang naapektuhan. ‘Yong pagka-test po [for COVID-19] at nag-positive, talagang ika-classify na COVID ‘yon,” he added.
The Philippine General Hospital previously shared that the number of their child patients with COVID-19 has also increased.
But it is not only in Metro Manila that children with COVID-19 are admitted.
In Ilocos Norte, some children are also confined due to COVID-19 at the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center.
According to Medical Center Chief Dr. Maria Lourdes Otayza, half of the children confined to their hospital are COVID-19 patients.
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Some of them were born with COVID-19, so all newborn babies are already undergoing the COVID-19 test.
Other COVID-19 patients who are children have concomitant diseases such as community-acquired pneumonia and dengue, so they experience more severe cases of COVID-19, Otayza said.
The Department of Health said Monday morning that there had been a 59 percent increase in the number of COVID-19 victims in all age groups, based on a record from July 13 to 25.
Meanwhile, DOH also said a highly infectious Delta variant had been detected in 13 out of 17 regions in the Philippines.
“Local Delta cases have been detected in 13 out of our 17 regions in the country,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
According to DOH, 355 of the 450 Delta variant cases are local, 69 are returning overseas Filipinos, and 26 are still undergoing verification.
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