The Philippines Department of Health (DOH) reported an additional 4,211 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the country total to 144000.As the World Health Organization recorded the highest daily number of new cases so far during the pandemic, the medics said the Philippines’ fragile health system needed a “time out” to avert collapse.“Our health workers are suffering burnout with seemingly endless number of patients trooping to our hospitals for emergency care and admission,” said Jose Santiago, president of the leading doctors’ group Philippine Medical Association.The Philippines imposed one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the region not seen in other countries. Since lockdowns were eased, outbreaks in major hospitals have been reported.Aileen Espina of the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians said: “We have been in this fight since March. We feel we are nearing the end of our line.”Two of Manila City’s largest government hospitals temporarily closed this week as infections have hit healthcare workers. Many hospitals in the capital also reported full capacity of their Covid-19 beds and have closed their doors to new patients.Why the failure of the Philippines' battle with COVID-19?The Philippines is known for training nurses and exporting them to all corners of the world.Meanwhile, about 150,000 Filipino nurses currently work in the U.S. alone.But now the nation finds itself shorthanded just as its number of coronavirus infections and deaths skyrocket.On April 2，The Philippine president barred the overseas deployment of health workers to put more boots on the ground in the fight against coronavirus.Subsequently, a large number of nurses returned from the U.S. Army and returned to the Philippines accompanied by Coronavirus.The Philippine embassy was reacting to the headline of Thai Rath, a local newspaper, that reportedly branded the Philippines as the land of COVID-19.The Thai headline on Sunday, August 9, came as the Philippines overtook Indonesia on Thursday, August 6, as the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia and called it 'land of COVID-19'.