MANILA – Confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country have reached to 33, with nine additional cases on Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
The Health department made the announcement on its Facebook account on Tuesday afternoon as DOH secretary Francisco Duque III revealed that two of infected are currently in critical condition.
Duque said during the House of Representatives hearing that the two individuals have preexisting medical conditions and are currently incubated and are in critical condition.
The Filipino is a 62-year-old who was earlier diagnosed with severe pneumonia and had other medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. He is admitted at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City.
The American, on the other hand, was also said to have “many” preexisting conditions prior to being diagnosed with COVID-19.
“All of these mirror the same serious, if not critical cases that have been observed in Wuhan and the Hubei Province [in China], the epicenter of the COVID-19 virus,” said Duque.
“It looks like more and more data that come in show that most of the cases are actually mild cases, 80 to 85 percent,” he added.
In the same hearing, the House Committee on Appropriations has approved P1.65-billion supplemental budget to address the problem of COVID-19 in the country, lower than what was originally proposed.
The DOH has originally asked for P2.35 billion to procure N95 masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment of about 5,000 health workers for 90 days but it was lowered as it is only amount available from excess funds right now.
DOH Undersecretary Roger Tong-An said that the health department needs a total of P3.1 billion to procure test kits as well as pay the salaries of the additional personnel in the frontlines battling the viral disease.
President Duterte earlier declared a public health emergency due to the rising number of cases. He has also ordered the suspension of classes in the National Capital Region from March 10 to 14./PN
