32 health workers ill of coronavirus in Ospital ng Tondo, hospital to close for 10 days

In the Philippines, there are recently huge daily increases in the total coronavirus cases recorded by the Department of Health (DOH). According to DOH, there is now a total of 147,526 coronavirus cases recorded in the country. Manila is one of the cities with a huge number of COVID-19 cases.

Photo credit: twitter.com

The Ospital ng Tondo in Manila City closed itself from new patients starting Friday, August 14, after 32 health workers there fell ill.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed over 500,000 lives across the globe. It is shaking the healthcare system of more than 200 countries and territories now. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) is alarmed by how quickly the disease has spread.

Mayor Isko Moreno said the hospital would be closed for 10 days. The said decision was made to give the doctors and nurses of the Tondo hospital who got sick after tending to COVID-19 patients time to rest. He said in a news release,

So para maka-relax, ma-ease the burden na ang pasyente ay doctor na rin, pasyente ay nurse na rin at mabigyan sila ng panahon na maka-recover at makapagpahinga na rin,

[So they can relax and to ease their burden because the doctors and nurses have become patients too. It gives them time to recover and rest.]

Moreno is set to sign the official request letter from hospital director Dr. Myrna Lacson-Paloma on the temporary closure within the day.

Moreno said those already confined at Ospital ng Tondo, including COVID-19 patients, would continue to receive assistance from hospital staff.

The hospital will still be open for patients admitted before the lockdown and patients needing emergency care. Other patients will be referred to other hospitals.

This is the second time that the Ospital ng Tondo was closed to allow its frontliners to recover. It was also closed from May 11 to 24 for its staffers' recovery.

This recent closure also follows the shutdown of Ospital ng Maynila, which lasted from July 31 to August 9 after a number of its personnel tested positive for the virus.