The Department of Health (DOH) has directed hospitals to reopen their wards dedicated to COVID-19 to prepare the country’s health system as cases continue to spike again.
DOH officer in charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire said that hospitals were told to follow the “accordion principle” by expanding bed capacity for COVID-19 cases. The move hopes to prevent straining the healthcare capacity.
Vergeire clarified that the beds were just on standby and that the beds dedicated to severe COVID-19 cases have yet to be used.
“Since we saw an increasing trend, we’ve mobilized our hospitals and announced an accordion principle, wherein they need to open wards previously reserved for COVID-19 and were later closed to make way for other cases,” Vergeire told a press briefing.
The DOH said that hospitalization rate remains low despite the reported increase in cases.
Metro Manila’s positivity rate or the number of people being infected by a positive individual is close to 20%.
In a CNN Philippines interview, the positivity rate is expected to increase to 25% next week which is almost the same level as the Omicron and Delta variants’ COVID-19 wave.
