Worst Covid-19 surge in Southeast Asia hammers Philippine hospitals | The Edge Markets

A worker disinfects a street in Manila on March 26. (Photo by Bloomberg) – A + A (April 6): 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…