ICU beds in Bulacan, Pampanga areas hit critical level -- OCTA

COVID-19 intensive care units (ICU) in Bulacan and Pampanga areas are already overwhelmed as they hit critical level, the OCTA Research firm said Thursday.

In Bulacan, virus infections in Santa Maria, San Jose del Monte, Meycauayan, and Bocaue continued to increase.

"All these LGUs except San Jose del Monte were already at critical incidence level and ICU occupancy," read the Central Luzon monitoring report of the OCTA Research.

Additional infections in Meycauayan soared by 25% to 81 during the period of August 19 to 25  from 65 in the past week. It also posted a 100% utilization rate for ICU beds.

New COVID-19 cases in Santa Maria went up by 35% to 100 in the period of August 19 to 25  from 74 recorded in the past week.  Average daily attack rate in this town was at 34.61% while data for ICU beds is not available.

Fresh cases in San Jose del Monte rose by 50% from 58 to 87 but its ICU utilization rate was at high risk, with 81%.

In Bocaue, new cases grew by 29% from 42 to 54. The ADAR is at 40.06% while ICU beds data is not available.

Central Luzon Update 08.26.21. Areas of Concern: Santa Maria, San Jose del Monte, San Fernando, Olongapo, Cabanatuan, Tarlac City, Balanga. @dzbb @cnnphilippines @allangatus @dzrhnews @onenewsph @NewsRmn @inquirerdotnet @EagleNews @smninews @DZAR1026 @FEBC_ph @dwiz882 @TV5manila pic.twitter.com/qYWHkKpUGv

— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) August 26, 2021

For the whole of Bulacan, cases increased by 18% from 710 to 835 while ICU occupancy rate was at 90%.

Slow down but critical rate

OCTA Research, meanwhile, noted a 20% decrease in Pamapanga's growth rate for COVID-19 cases.

New cases in the province rose by 13% from 482 to 544.

OCTA, however, flagged the critical level of ICU beds in San Fernando and Mabalacat, Pampanga, with 99% and 86%, respectively.

Outside of Pampanga and Bulacan, areas in Olongapo, Cabanatuan, Balanga and Tarlac City were "areas of concern."

Additional COVID-19 cases in Olongapo, Zambales are also increasing from 39 to 48 while 100% of its ICU beds are in use.

New infections in Cabanatuan were up by 76% from 25 to 44. It also registered 87% occupancy level for ICU beds.

Tarlac City's ICU beds utilization rate was at critical level with 94%.

Also, Balanga's new cases went up by 43% from 28 to 40 while its ADAR was at 37.28.

Since Aug. 11, the Department of Health has been detecting more than 10,000 new infections of COVID-19 in the Philippines, which has a total of 1,883,088 COVID-19 cases. -MDM GMA News