The COVID-19 situation is not yet alarming despite the increase in the number of patients admitted, the head of the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPi) said on Wednesday.

Jose Rene de Grano said the number of patients admitted to the private hospitals has increased to more than 20 percent.

"We noticed that for the past two or three days when the number of cases increased. The number of admissions to private hospitals has slightly grown from less than 20 percent figures before. Now some have risen to more than 20 percent, while others reached 50 percent," she said.

"But then that depends on the number of allocated beds... if there are 20 beds and there are 10 people admitted, that’s 50 percent (capacity) already but if there are more beds and the number of patients admitted is not that high, then it will not be that high," he added.

De Grano said based on their monitoring, areas where an increase in hospital admissions were recorded includes Cavite, Laguna, Aklan in Western Visayas and Davao Region.

He also mentioned that most of the cases in the private hospitals are "incidental COVID" but De Grano said patients with moderate to severe cases are usually those with comorbidities or the immunocompromised individuals.

COVID-19 cases have been rising in the last few weeks and is now averaging over 1,700 a day during May 8 to 14, the Department of Health said.

But the DOH said hospital utilization has remained low. Robina Asido/DMS