MANILA - A group of healthworkers on Sunday urged the government to hire one nurse per barangay to augment the country's workforce as it continued to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government is adding COVID-19 beds without hiring more nurse to man these, said Jocelyn Andamo, secretary general of Filipino Nurses United.

• Group says health workers feeling brunt of COVID-19 virus surge, 'losing hope'

"Ang panawagan namin nung isang taon pa po, dapat merong mass hiring na libo-libo. Ang recommendation namin 1 nurse sa bawat barangay. Kaya po yun, 42,000 nurses po sana nationwide," she told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

(We already told government that there should be mass hiring of nurses. We recommended 1 nurse per barangay. We can hire 42,000 nurses nationwide.)

"Kung mabibigyan po ng maayos, sapat at proactive na sinasabi nating makatao at just na sahod, adequate benefits at assurance po na pagka magkakasakit sila pati ang kanilang pamilya ay hindi mapapabayaan."

(If government can give enough and humane salary, adequate benefits and assurance that even if they become ill, their families will be taken care of.)

The Philippines on Saturday logged 9,661 more COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 989,380, with 89,485 active infections.

The DOH had noted a slight decline in new coronavirus infections in the past week, after stricter lockdowns were reintroduced in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces of Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite.

• DOH notes slight decline in COVID-19 cases due to lockdown, monitoring continues

Hospitals around the metro earlier said they still felt overwhelmed with the number of COVID-19 cases even as government has expanded bed capacity.