THE Department of Health (DOH)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) assured that Covid-19 cases in region remains manageable despite the recent surge.

Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, assistant regional director and spokesperson of DOH-CAR, said the number of confirmed new cases, particularly in the region, is at an alarming level but heath workers are equipped to manage the virus.

“From March 17 to March 24, we actually have an average of 192 cases or almost 200 cases a day with 35 deaths in one week alone or four to five deaths a day which is alarming. Our attack rate is more than 1,000 per 100,000 population, which is 1005.2 per 100,000 population aside from our critical care utilization rate now at the high risk level which is why we have t9 do something about the surge of this new cases per day,” Pangilinan said.

Cordillera usually averages 30 to 50 cases per day but with its recent data, DOH-CAR considers the increase as alarming.

“We are not surprised of the increasing cases in some of our provinces like in Mountain Province where we had the most number of UK variant even as they were recently the silent province as compared to them now being one of the areas with a high Average Daily Arrack Rate (Adar) and two week growth rate. Still, the recommendation is following the minimum health standards set by our health department,” Pangilinan said.

As of March 25, Cordillera has recorded 18, 322 Covid-19 cases with 259 deaths.

Dr. Thea Cajulao, Adult Infectious Disease specialist of DOH-CAR and BGHMC, said that despite the number of cases, the health facility is still able to manage the volume of Covid-19 cases.

“So far, we have been able to manage our personnel and as of now, we have 61 employees who are on quarantine, two who are admitted but we are able to manage the temporary loss of our employees. It would be a big help if we were to have additional manpower, actually with the recent increase of bed capacity of BGHMC to 1,500, we are expecting additional workforce,” Cajulao said.

BGHMC at present has admitted 95 confirmed Covid-19 patients, 20 mild cases, 20 moderate, 53 severe and two critical.