On May 17, the Department of Health (DOH) reported that there are 12,513 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country; 9,054 of these are active cases.
Of these active cases, only 1,372 (15%) are admitted, 266 (3%) are in home quarantine, while 7,416 (82%) were classified “pending admission status.” But of those 1,372 confirmed admitted, 55 are still for validation.
The active cases which are further classified to the severity of the case: asymptomatic, mild, severe, and critical. Most cases are mild (1,195), consistent with earlier studies saying COVID-19 is not deadly, but highly contagious.
The DOH also reported 824 people have died from the coronavirus disease, while 2,635 recovered by May 17.
Isolation of COVID-19 cases
An article published April 29 on the Lancet, a medical journal, recommends the use of institution-based isolation to effectively reduce household and community transmission.
It also recommends interventions made in Wuhan, where everyone showing symptoms were tested and isolated inside “fangcang” shelter hospitals built within areas that are being contained.
These makeshift hospitals are intended for large-scale medical isolation. These were also recommended by Chinese experts who visited the Philippines in April and found that the Philippines is at risk of being unable to cut of the source.
“Because of limited beds and testing capacity in the Philippines, many of the COVID-19 patients are still quarantined at home,” Weng Shangeng, head of the Chinese medical team, told CCTV Asia Pacific.
Weng said stablishing a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients is a fundamental measure to increase recovery rates and reduce infection rates.
“In this way, mild cases can be admitted to the hospital for observation so as to prevent the mild cases from becoming severe cases,” Weng said.
Total bed capacity
Meanwhile, the government tracker also reports the number of hospital beds and facilities dedicated to COVID-19 patients.
As of May 17, the tracker showed there are 13,457 dedicated beds for COVID-19. Of these, 8,493 or 63% are not occupied. Total beds occupied are only 4,964 or 37%.
It is unclear why the number of COVID-19 dedicated beds occupied does not match the reported number of patients admitted for the disease (1,372).
Quarantine facilities
Meanwhile, the quarantine facilities are hardly shelter hospitals. They closely resemble nightly stay transient dorms or evacuation centers, but upgraded with partitions per bed.
The DOH situationer report released on May 15 indicated that there are four quarantine facilities they call the MEGA Local Isolation and General Treatment Areas (LIGTAS) as of May 14. COVID-19 quarantine facilities in Metro Manila include the PICC, World Trade Center, Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium and one in Central Luzon is the Philippine Arena, managed by the local government. Meanwhile, there are a total of 2,297 temporary treatment and monitoring facilities LIGTAS COVID centers all over the country which are managed by local government units.
The tracker and the virtual pressers do not report how many people are isolated inside quarantine facilities already established all over the country.
Reports from the national and local government units say that these are for those showing COVID-19 symptoms but have yet to be tested, health workers treating COVID-19 patients and for returning Overseas Filipino Workers.
Are we isolating effectively?
While many things that did not seem to tally may fall within what the DOH always say that they are still verifying, one thing is certain in the country’s case today: lockdown is not equal to being able to isolate suspect or probable or even confirmed COVID-19 patients.
And isolate them so they would not have a chance to spread the disease before they are confirmed positive or negative, since the country is still grappling with its low testing capacity and delayed results.
Another is that the lack of mass testing will incapacitate the country from isolating effectively.
Asymptomatic cases are not detected, and mostly those tested and/or admitted are those with severe symptoms. The Lung Center of the Philippines recently reported they have not gotten the results of their tests since April. An independent COVID-19 tracker tallied 452 people have dies before they got their test results.
The World Health Organization has advised countries to focus their respective public health responses to test, trace, treat and isolate COVID-19 cases.
