Hospital bed occupancy in NCR up from 17% to 29% —OCTA

Hospital bed occupancy for COVID-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR) has increased to 29% in a span of one week, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said Tuesday.

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the number of occupied hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in NCR rose from 17% on December 26, 2021 to 29% on January 2, 2022.

Likewise, the intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy increased from 21% to 29% within the same period.

“Hospital bed occupancy seems to be increasing at a faster rate compared to ICU occupancy,” David said.

According to the Department of Health’s (DOH) latest bulletin, 29% of the 1,200 ICU beds and 27% of the 4,600 isolation beds for COVID-19 patients in the NCR were occupied.

David said 1,000 more hospital beds were occupied now as compared to the 1,072 beds used during the peak of the COVID-19 surge caused by the Delta variant last year.

“Both hospital bed occupancy and ICU occupancy are still very low level at this time,” he added.

The critical level threshold is at 70% occupancy.

As of Monday, about 30% of the 3,800 ward beds and 16% of the 1,000 ventilators were utilized, according to the DOH bulletin.

Meanwhile, for the whole country, 23% of the 3,400 ICU beds and 23% of the 18,600 isolation beds were in use, while 16% of the 12,200 ward beds and 13% of the 2,800 ventilators nationwide were also utilized.

The whole Metro Manila is currently under Alert Level 3 until January 15. The provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal, meanwhile, will be placed under the same level from January 5 to 15, 2022, due to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.

On Monday, the Philippines registered 4,084 additional COVID-19 infections, with 24,992 active cases. The total caseload in the country is now at 2,855,819. —KBK, GMA News