UPDATE 2-Philippines sees region's biggest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths

* Philippines reports 162 new deaths related to virus
* Intensive care units hit capacity "danger zone"
* President's spokesman says challenge intensifying
* Manila hospital occupancy jumps from 48-70% in a week

(Recasts, adds new case numbers, comments, details throughout)
By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema
MANILA, July 13 (Reuters) - The Philippines reported
Southeast Asia's biggest daily jump in COVID-19 deaths on Monday
and warned of more fatalities ahead, as authorities scrambled to
verify thousands of suspected cases and pressure grows on
hospitals after the easing of a lockdown.
The government and several large hospitals in the capital
Manila said critical care capacity had been reached, adding to
fears of its over-stretched health sector being deluged by the
contagion.
The health ministry reported 162 new deaths that were
confirmed on Sunday plus another 65 on Monday, with 2,960
additional infections. The Philippines over the past week has
reported higher daily infections than Indonesia, which has
Southeast Asia's highest number of deaths and cases.
Philippine COVID-19 infections have more than tripled to
57,006 since June 1 when restrictions started to ease to allow
some public transport, restaurants and malls to reopen, in a bid
to restart an economy decimated by some of the world's strictest
and longest curbs on movement and commerce.
Although the Philippines has ramped up testing lately, the
926,252 recorded represents less than 1% of the 107 million
population.
The health ministry said there were nearly 12,000 suspected
positive cases yet to be verified and the death toll of 1,599
would almost certainly rise.
"As part of ongoing data harmonisation, we cannot avoid
seeing cases not yet included in our official death count,"
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news
conference, adding that efforts to speed up data collection
would mean greater numbers being reported in the coming days.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the outbreak as
an "intensifying challenge" and said hospital occupancy in
Manila had jumped to 70% from 48% a week ago due to a spike in
cases.
Two of Manila's biggest private hospitals declared on Monday
they were at full capacity.
"Right now, the critical bed capacity especially for the
intensive care units is already in the danger zone," Health
Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega told reporters.
Manila remains the centre of the outbreak, but Cebu city is
becoming a new hotspot with a 10th of the country's infections.
It has since June 16 been under the highest level of
restriction.
A resurgence in infections was to be expected with lockdown
easing, former health minister Esperanza Cabral, told Reuters,
but "the degree of increase" will depend on people's compliance
with social distancing rules.