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MANILA – Younger COVID-19 patients are getting admitted to hospitals amid the spread of the Delta variant in the country, a top official of St. Luke’s Medical Center said.

”Kasi itong mga younger patients, between 30-50 years old, ‘yun ang mga lumalabas eh. Yung mga senior hindi lumalabas,” chief medical officer Dr. Benjamin Campomanes said on TeleRadyo.

He also noted that most of the admitted patients now are those who are unvaccinated or have had only one shot of the COVID-19 jab.

“They’re not included in the A1 to A4, so sila yung mga either one dose pa lang ang nabibigay or they are unvaccinated.”

“So, those critically and severely ill na above 60 years old, we found out that they are the ones who did not receive any vaccine or refused to have a vaccine done."

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Campomanes noted that St. Luke’s Medical Center saw a 40 percent increase in COVID-19 admissions from July 20 to August 4 amid the uptick of cases in the country.

Out of 35 intensive care unit (ICU) beds in their hospitals, 27 are currently occupied by COVID-19 patients.

In their general nursing units, meanwhile, COVID patients are using 149 out of 198 beds.

Campomanes said they are concerned about the steady increase in COVID-19 admissions in their Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City hospitals.

"So 2 weeks lang yun. For the past month, parang steady lang kami noon, mga 20 to 30 in the wards, we had 2 or 3 in the ICU," he said.

He hopes, however, that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to be imposed in Metro Manila from August 6 to 20 will help curb the rise in cases.

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Still, the hospital is prepared for any surge in cases, he said.

“We’ve been ready….we’ve been going on doing this for the past more than one year.”

“We are well stocked for the rest of the year, even with the surge,” he said.