MANILA - A group of private hospitals said Monday its members have received written warnings from the health department to increase their COVID-19 capacity to 30 percent.

Private hospitals currently allot 20 percent of its total bed allocation for virus patients, said Dr. Jose Rene Degrano, president of the Private Hospitals Association Philippines.

Degrano said one nurse can previously handle 5 to 8 virus patients with mild symptoms, but one one to three patients with moderate to severe symptoms.

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"Sinabi po namin depende po 'yun, we will try as much as possible. Pero ano pong gagawin namin kung wala kaming makuhang additional nurses na pwedeng pumuno sa additional beds," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(We said it would depend, we will try as much as possible. But what can we do if we can't get additional nurses to attend to additional beds.)

"Karamihan ng hospitals sinasabi nila may written warning na kailangan nila sumunod sa Bayanihan 2 directive na ito. Ang sagot ng mga ospital ano ang magagawa namin kung walang maibigay na additional number of nurses. Ginagawan po ng paraan ng private hospitals kung kaya nila."

(Majority of hospitals said they have received a written warning that they need to follow this Bayanihan 2 directive. They said what can they do if there's no additional number of nurses. Private hospitals are doing the best they can.)

The group earlier appealed to government to augment private hospitals' workforce as COVID-19 cases continued to surge in the Greater Manila area.

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The Philippines on Sunday logged 10,098 more COVID-19 cases, raising its cumulative total to 936,133. Of this figure, 141,089 were active infections.

The country is forecast to reach 1 million COVID-19 cases by the end of the month, according to independent research group OCTA.

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