MANILA (UPDATE)—The management of St. Luke's Medical Center on Wednesday appealed to COVID-19 patients to seek help from other medical facilities due to the continued flow of virus admissions in their hospitals.

In an announcement, the private hospital said their COVID-19 wards and critical care units are "running at full capacity."

St. Luke's has branches in Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. It also has a medical center extension clinic in Ermita, Manila.

"We also have patients in critical condition waiting for urgent admission at the Emergency Rooms," the advisory read.

• The Medical City, St. Luke's hospitals' COVID wards, critical care units now full
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"Given this current situation, we kindly request those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to seek immediate care from other health care institutions for the meantime."

The hospital is suffering a lack of manpower, as many have resigned and sought work abroad, said medical chief officer Dr. Benjamin Campomanes.

"There are 2 things beleaguering us and it’s mainly on manpower. The rooms puwede i-extend (can be extended) whatever pero (but) yung workforce is the problem now," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo Thursday.

"Yun ang 2 problems: Decrease in the number of manpower and super pagod na sila."

(Those are the two problems: Decrease in the number of manpower and they're super tired.)

The hospital continues to hire health workers and is among the top 2 medical facilities with the highest salary, he said. It also has a "buffer" of fresh graduates, he added.

It offers teleconsult for adults, pediatric patients, and recovered CVID-19 patients, Campomanes said.

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On Tuesday, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the country's largest public hospital and COVID-19 referral facility, said it would temporarily stop accepting new COVID-19 patients as it has already reached critical capacity.

PGH also temporarily closed down their non-COVID wards on Aug. 14 to focus on their virus patients.

The Philippines is battling a growth of virus infections most likely driven by the more transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant.

The said variant ripped through India's health care system at its peak in April, and is also behind the spike of cases in Southeast Asian nations.

The Department of Health over the weekend said community transmission of the variant may already be happening even if more evidence is needed.

• DOH: COVID-19 Delta variant 'community transmission is there'

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