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MANILA—More than nine out of 10 beds at Philippine General Hospital dedicated to COVID-19 patients are occupied, its spokesman said Tuesday, even as the capital region's virus infections declined.

Some 234 out of 250 COVID-19 beds of the hospital are being used, according to Dr. Jonas del Rosario.

"That’s more than 90 percent occupancy. Ang aming ICU (intensive care unit) puno pa rin. Ang aming emergency room ay puno rin, madaming tinatanggap na pasyente," del Rosario told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(Our ICU remains full, same with our emergency room, which is admitting many patients.)

"Halos 80 patients po ang naghihintay para matanggap sa'ming ospital. Puno po ang charity beds namin. Ang isang nagiging limitasyon ay oxygen ports."

(Nearly 80 patients are waiting to be admitted. Our charity beds are full. One limitation is the number of oxygen ports.)

• About 5 COVID-19 patients die daily at PGH: spokesman

The number of virus cases in PGH has been "trending down," but it again increased over the last 3 days, Del Rosario said.

"Nagulat kami 234 na naman, akala namin tuloy-tuloy na," he said.

(We were surprised it was again at 234, we were expecting the downward trend to continue.)

"Kung babasehin sa numero namin, siguro mas OK iextend (ang MECQ). From now to mid-May tingnan natin ang mga datos baka naman mas malaki ang ibaba."

(If we will base it on the numbers, it's better to extend MECQ. Let's see what the data would be from now to mid-May, maybe it will decrease significantly.)

The National Economic and Development Authority had earlier said the capital region needs to ease into general community quarantine for the country to reach its target growth of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year.

• Easing Metro Manila quarantine crucial for PH to achieve growth target: NEDA

Metro Manila can ease into general community quarantine when its COVID-19 daily average cases falls to fewer than 2,000 infections, according to independent research group OCTA.

• NCR can ease quarantine when daily COVID cases decline to 2,000: OCTA Research

The effect of the looser MECQ "Flexi" in Metro Manila might manifest "next week or next next week," OCTA said.

• Metro Manila's COVID-19 cases still on downward trend: OCTA Research

The Philippines on Monday reported 7,255 new cases of COVID-19, bringing its total to 1,062,225, of which 69,466 were active infections.