MANILA, Philippines — A total of 33 individuals have been added to the country’s list of patients under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19 on Thursday alone (February 13).
Overall, there are a total of 441 PUIs in 15 regions across the country.
Of the said number, 320 patients are still being monitored in different hospitals.
According to Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo, none of the patients were experiencing severe pneumonia or any serious symptoms.
“So far, all of our cases have mild illness. Talagang ano lang, kaunting lagnat, ubo ang most common, but no severe illness (So far, all of our cases only have mild illness. Mild fever and cough are the most common conditions but no severe illness),” Domingo said.
Meanwhile, 250 PUIs have tested negative for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 208 were already discharged.
Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe of the World Health Organization (WHO) said the international health body wants to increase the Philippines’ capacity to immediately release confirmatory tests from samples taken from the PUIs by sending enough test kits.
“Increasing capacity of countries to rapidly diagnose cases by sharing the relevant reagents for the PCR testing,” he said.
“Enough reagents for 1, 500 tests. We are already processing the next order,” he added.
Domingo said they have been testing 80 to 100 specimens a day.
Each sample is tested twice to make sure a PUI is free of COVID-19.
The result for each test is released within 12 to 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the country’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) has accredited four major hospitals in the country to help in the sample testing.
These health facilities include:
- Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City;
- Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City;
- San Lazaro Hospital in Manila;
- Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center
These hospitals have the equipment and the capacity to test the samples, according to Domingo.
WHO-validated rapid test kits will be ready for use in Level 2 and 3 hospitals in the country.
The Department of Health (DOH), likewise, assured that these health facilities have enough medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPEs).
Still, the DOH is hoping that the government will expedite the release of the P2-B supplemental budget to fund the COVID-19 case management and additional supplies in hospitals.
“Siguro mga 1 to 2 months kaya naman natin pa pero kailangan na natin bumili talaga (Maybe we can sustain for one to two months but we really need to procure),” Domingo said. – MNP (with details from Aiko Miguel)
The post No severe illness among PUIs for COVID-19 across PH — DOH appeared first on UNTV News.