MANILA – A shift back to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) is possible if the hospitals and temporary treatment facilities for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reaches full capacity.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) consultant Dr. Ted Herbosa said the high occupancy rate of health facilities could result in more fatalities since not all COVID-19 patients can be accommodated.
“Usually, kapag napuno na ng COVID-19 cases ang ating mga ospital at mga temporary treatment facilities babalik talaga tayo sa MECQ,” Herbosa said in an interview with DZBB on Sunday.
“Kapag kasi napuno na ang ating mga ospital ng COVID-19 patients, baka maraming mamatay na hindi dapat mamatay dahil hindi sila magagamot at nakapila sila sa admission,” he added.
Several hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) have felt the effects of the sudden surge of COVID-19 cases the past few weeks and have already declared that they are in full capacity.
Based on the Department of Health (DOH) data on Saturday afternoon, DOH has recorded a single-day record of 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infected Filipinos to 616,611.
The OCTA Research Group warned that, if the current 1.9 reproduction rate does not change, the country might record up to 8,000 daily new COVID-19 cases by the end of the month and 18,000 to 20,000 by mid-April.
“Hindi tayo nananakot. Sinasabi lang natin, ‘yan ang science. Wala namang fear-mongering sa science,” OCTA Research fellow Guido David said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo on Sunday.
“Actually, ‘yung projections namin, nagkatotoo na. In fact, mas mabilis na siya compared sa original naming projection. Kaya, nag-readjust ng projection,” added David, whose group earlier projected that daily virus cases in the entire country would reach 5,000 by end of the month./PN
