Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday, May 12 that the health care workers positive with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has breached 2,000 mark.
In a virtual presser, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire announced that 2,067 health workers have contracted the deadly disease, with 76 new confirmed cases.
Nurses topped the list with 759 infections, followed by doctors at 631, nursing assistants at 129, medical technologists at 72, radiologic technologists at 29, and the rest are barangay health workers, utility workers, and administrative aides, among others.
Of these figures, 1,389 are still active cases with 1,026 mild, 356 asymptomatic and 7 severe.
This record showed that 19 percent of the country’s total COVID-19 cases are health workers, or one out of five. The national case tally is now at 11,350, with 2,106 recoveries and 751 deaths as of Tuesday.
Vergeire added that another health worker died, bringing the total deaths to 35.
Some 99 medical frontliners have also recovered from the disease, bringing the number of survivors to 643.
Vergeire said that the DOH record showed a steady decline in the number of health workers infected with the disease.
“Our infection prevention and control measures being strictly implemented in our hospitals are of big help in ensuring the safety of our frontliners,” Vergeire said.
Emergency Hiring
DOH announced that they are continuously hiring health workers as 77 facilities in the country have requested for more of these medical workers.
[Related: DOH hiring more health workers for COVID-19 response]
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already approved 3,664 slots for emergency hiring intended for 62 hospitals and quarantine facilities.
The health department has already received 1,187 health personnel from 11 hospitals and quarantine facilities in the country. It has also redeployed 747 nurses under the Nurse Deployment Program (NDP); 162 nurses are in Luzon and 585 in Visayas and Mindanao.