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 neighbors.
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 Saturday statement.