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MANILA - The Philippine General Hospital said Wednesday its COVID-19 ward was "overflowing" with 215 patients.

This despite the state-run hospital adjustment of its number of beds for virus patients to 210 following the spike in coronavirus cases, spokesman Jonas del Rosario said.

The hospital will still accept non-COVID-19 cases, he added.

"Puno na po. Umaapaw po...Nalampasan namin 'yung amin 210 na sinet na limit," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(Our COVID-19 ward is full. It's overflowing. We went past our set limit of 210 patients.)

"Marami pong private patients ang nagpunta sa PGH, marahil sarado na rin 'yung private hospitals."

(Many private patients went to PGH probably because private hospitals were also full.)

Most of the patients were elderly and some 40 cases are in the intensive care unit, Del Rosario said.

"Marami sa kanila nasa elderly population. Dahil nung nag-ease up 'yung ating quarantine, hindi kagaya nung ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) pa hindi naman lumalabas yung mga tao. Nung lumuwag naging mobile ang mga tao, pati tuloy matatanda nahawa," he said.

(Most of them were elderly, probably because of when quarantine eased, unlike in ECQ where people don't really go outside. When quarantine eased, people became mobile, even the elderly were infected.)

"Yung iba nilang kasama sa bahay lalabas, mahahawa yung kanilang matatandang kasama sa bahay. Minsan mismong mga matatanda lumalabas din dahil matagal na silang nakakulong sa bahay. Lumabas, di akalaing mahahawa."

(Some of their housemates probably went out and infected them. Sometimes even the elderly themselves go out because they've been quarantined for too long, they didn't think they'd get infected.)

Some 40 COVID-19 patients are waiting to be transferred to the hospital once beds become available, Del Rosario said.

Around 45 healthcare workers of PGH are admitted following an outbreak in its dietary department where 20 staff tested positive for the virus, he said. Some 6 frontliners contracted the disease, he added.

The Philippines as of Tuesday recorded 70,764 cases of COVID-19, with 23,281 recoveries and 1,837 deaths.

• COVID-19 cases in PH breach 70,000-mark with nearly 2,000 new cases recorded