As the new batch of physicians in the Department of Medicine of the Philippine General Hospital, University of the Philippines Manila (UP-PGH) started their residency in January 2020, COVID-19 was only a disease that was heard of in the news, as it was spreading in China. When the first few patients with coughs and colds would ask us whether it was nCOV (as it was known then), we would not even consider it; we just gently reassured them. Then, the first patient in the country with COVID-19 was admitted on the last week of January 2020,1 prompting various local and national efforts to try to prevent its further spread. Even then, hospital operations and training activities went on as usual except that more people wore masks and practiced social distancing. When the government declared community quarantine for the whole of Luzon mid-March due to the rise in confirmed cases, hospital operations slowed down as the outpatient department (OPD) was closed and workforce was minimized. Before the month ended, the hospital would be designated to be one of the COVID-19 referral centers.
Coronavirus ; Covid-19