By Daisy CL Mandap
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| Dr Kwan says the number of patients in hospitals has doubled in the past month |
The increase in hospitalization follows a rise in the number of daily infections. As of today, Jul 6, the caseload has gone up to 2,815, of which 143 are imported. This was nearly a fourth of the total tally yesterday.
Speaking at today’s press briefing, Dr Gladys Kwan, a chief manager at HA, presented statistics showing that the number of Covid patients getting admitted to hospitals on a daily basis has more than doubled.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
From about 30 to 40 patients per day, the number has risen to more than 100 in the past week, said Kwan. The total number of admitted patients has also doubled from about 400 to 800 in the past month alone.
As of today, a total of 830 patients are receiving treatment
at different public hospitals, including the infection control centre at
Equally alarming, said Kwan, was the noticeable increase in the number of critical and seriously ill patients. The latest figures show14 are in critical condition, including two who are in the intensive care units; and 12 are in serious condition.
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A few weeks ago, the total number was just about a dozen, or less than half of today’s tally, said Kwan.
“So we are concerned that the gravity of the cases has increased,” she said.
Because of the rising trend in hospitalization and severity of cases, she said hospital authorities have set up a central command committee to monitor the situation on a daily basis.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
She called on the public to increase their vigilance, get vaccinated if they have not done so yet and carry out regular tests if they belong to high-risk groups.
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| The HA graph shows a steep rise in hospitalization from June to July |
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection also said officials are worried about the rise in the number of cases involving Omicron sub-variants, in particular BA.4 and BA.5, which are also known to cause re-infection among patients.
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| Press for details |
Chuang said that the proportion of local cases with these sub-variants has gone up from about 0.8 percent to more than 1 percent of the total caseload.
She said there were 22 new cases of BA.4 and BA.5 detected yesterday, of which only 10 were linked to previous infections; and 19 involving BA.2.12.1.
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Including today’s caseload the total tally from the fifth wave has risen to more than 1.246 million.
One more Covid-related death was recorded, involving a 71-year-old woman who was bedridden and suffered from hypertension and diabetes. Her case took the death toll to 9,193.
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| PADALA NA! |
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