THE Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, April 23, reported 271 additional cases of coronavirus infections in the country, raising the total count to nearly 7,000.
Sixteen additional patients had died while 29 other patients have recovered.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the total number of cases in the country has reached 6,981.
The death toll increased further to 462, while those who have recovered went up to 722.
Among the mortalities were 26 healthcare workers.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency has recorded 1,062 health care workers who tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of April 22.
She said that 422 are doctors, 386 are nurses, 30 are medical technologists, 21 are radiologic technologists, 51 are nursing assistants, and 152 are barangay health workers.
In a virtual press conference Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government is implementing an infectious operational protocol to increase the number of personal protective equipment (PPE) sets for frontliners.
The government is also considering the recommendations of a Chinese team of experts to hire more healthcare personnel and shorten the working hours of healthcare workers.
"Mayroon pong mga rekomendasyon 'yung mga Tsinong eksperto na mag hire po tayo ng mas maraming medical personnel dahil 'yung rekomendasyon nila ay iklian 'yung duty ng ating mga frontliners, para mabawasan din 'yung posibilidad na sila ay mahawa," Roque said.
In a separate virtual press conference Thursday, Vergeire said a total of 15,000 additional medical personnel are needed to fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) epidemic in the country.
As of April 22, Vergeire said seven facilities have requested additional healthcare workers.
She said they were processing the hiring of 701 personnel for the Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine General Hospital, Tala Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
The DOH is also preparing to deploy 639 nurses to public hospitals. Of the 639, 192 will be deployed in Luzon while 447 will be assigned to the Visayas and Mindanao.
The DOH has realigned P7.9 million to pay for the salaries and benefits of the 22 additional personnel at the RITM.
The facility currently has a total of 160 personnel. (With a report from Jove T. Moya/VoxPop Philippines)