MANILA - Virus cases in the Philippine General Hospital, the country's biggest COVID-19 referral center, has consistently climbed over the past week, its spokesman said Monday.

The PGH as of Sunday has 143 COVID-19 patients out of its 250 beds, said Dr. Jonas del Rosario.

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"Patuloy po ang pagtaas mula po ito ng nakaraang linggo.
For the last 10 days talagang consistent na umaakyat ang aming admissions," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(It has continued to climb since last week. For the last 10 days, our admissions have been consistent in increasing.)

Some of its healthcare workers who contracted mild to moderate COVID-19 illness were also admitted, Del Rosario said as he noted that the majority of the hospital's staff were fully vaccinated.

"Most are mild symptoms. May dalawa na inadmit pero nasa moderate, recovered na rin po iyon," he said.

(There were 2 that were admitted but they suffered from moderate illness and have since recovered.)

The referral center assumes all of its virus cases are Delta variants, according to the spokesman.

• 21 Delta variant cases admitted at PGH, says official

"Para 'di mahawa ang healthcare workers at makahawa sila, tinaasan po ang level ng personal protective equipment para lang mas protektado sila," he said.

(So our healthcare workers are not infected and cannot be carriers, we raised the level of personal protective equipment.)

The Philippines on Sunday tallied 8,735 fresh COVID-19 cases, bringing its total to 1,597,689. Of this figure, 63,646 were active infections.

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