Former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada is now placed on mechanical ventilation after his condition worsened a day after being placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
As hospitals in the Philippine capital reach capacity from a new surge of coronavirus cases, increasingly desperate Filipinos are stocking up on oxygen tanks and touting unapproved medications amid fears the health care system may collapse.
MANILA (BLOOMBERG) - As hospitals in the Philippine capital reach capacity from a new surge of coronavirus cases, increasingly desperate Filipinos are stocking up on oxygen tanks and touting unapproved medications amid fears the health care system may collapse.
Daily infections rose to a record last week in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in nearly five Covid-19 tests comes back positive and vaccination rates lag its neighbours.
The Philippines is at risk of a humanitarian crisis that will overwhelm the country and wipe out families unless the government steps up testing, tracing and treatment efforts, opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan said in an April 3 statement.
By CECILIA YAP AND ANDREO CALONZO | | Published: April 6, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more staff and wire stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. As hospitals in the Philippine capital reach capacity from a new surge of coronavirus cases, increasingly desperate Filipinos are stocking up on oxygen tanks and touting unapproved medications amid fears the health care system may collapse. Daily infections rose to a record last week in the Southeast Asian nation, where one in nearly five coronavirus tests comes back positive and vaccination rates lag its neighbors.