For medical experts, there is no need to go back to tighter lockdown despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
In recent weeks, hospitals have felt an increase in the number of patients with COVID-19, but they are still managing them today.
“We have seen more cases admitted in the hospital. The sad reality, we see a lot of them in severe stages… We, in the medical community, are worried about the rising numbers of COVID cases, but we do our best to make sure we provide them the health care they need to recover,” said Dr. Nemencio Nicodemus ng Philippine College Of Physicians (PCP).
“I don’t think we need to go back to a stricter lockdown at this point in time,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Rontgene Solante.
Solante explained that health workers are already accustomed to handling COVID-19 patients and the health system is also better prepared.
At the Philippine General Hospital, 70 percent of the bed allocations for COVID-19 patients are already full.
About 60 percent of the San Lazaro Hospital is occupied.
Health workers: No need to go back to strict lockdown
The occupancy rate of COVID-19 ward beds at Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH) has exceeded 100 percent since March 9.
But according to QCGH Director Josephine Sabando, they will continue to receive non-COVID-19 patients at the hospital.
But according to the PCP, health workers have not yet asked for the timeout.
“Even if we have almost the same number of cases, I would like to believe that the way the government is dealing with this problem right now is better to the one we had last year,” said Nicodemus.
“We still don’t have any plans of asking for a time out but we are open to communicating with the government,” he added.
Although as many as 5,000 new cases were recorded each day in March, Nicodemus believes that government measures, such as the implementation of granular lockdowns and contact tracing, are still effective.
Guido David of the OCTA Research Group warned that there could be as many as 8,000 new COVID-19 cases per day before the end of March.