[draft] The Department of Health (DOH) has asked hospitals to reopen their COVID wards to prepare for the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.

In a press briefing, DOH officer-in-charge (OIC) Maria Rosario Vergeire said this move was made to prevent shortages of hospital beds.

“Since we saw an increasing trend, we’ve mobilized our hospitals and announced an accordion principle, wherein they need to open wards previously reserved for COVID-19 and were later closed to make way for other cases,”

On Wednesday, the OCTA Research Team fellow Guido David said that the COVID-19 positivity in the National Capital Region (NCR) may hit 25 percent.

He said the number of people who were tested positive for COVID-19 reached 19.2 percent on May 2 from the 12.7 percent on April 25.

“NCR Hospital Occupancy increased to 24.7% on May 2, from 22.5% on Apr 25,” Guido noted.

Based on the health department’s latest data, there are a total of 4,096,335 COVID-19 cases in the country with 7,565 active cases.