Still no mass testing as PH virus deaths hit 18, cases reach 230

Six days into the lockdown ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 13 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday, bringing the nationwide total to 230.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire updated the national tally on Friday as she announced the death of Patient 124, a 65-year-old man who went to Singapore before falling ill, on March 17.

Vergeire did not say when the man fell ill or why the death was reported only on March 20, but it was the latest in a list of 18 fatalities in the country.

The new patients, on the other hand, brought to 119 the tally of new cases since the President placed Metro Manila, and eventually the entire Luzon island, under a community quarantine. They represent more than half of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

The data, however, appeared not to be linked to the lockdown since the World Health Organization said the typical incubation period for most COVID-19 cases has been from six to seven days, and it also usually takes 48 hours to complete a diagnostic test.

Filipinos overseas

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that four more Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 in Singapore, Macau and Kuwait.

Citing a report of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, the DFA said the first confirmed Filipino case of COVID-19 there was a female domestic worker who had close contact with a person who recently traveled to the United Kingdom.

“According to health authorities, the said Filipino domestic worker is in stable condition,” the embassy said as it called on Filipinos in the oil-rich emirate to follow the instructions issued by Kuwaiti authorities.

In Singapore, the DFA said two more Filipinos tested positive and were confined in separate hospitals. A total of 13 Filipinos have now been been infected on the island state but two have already been discharged.

The Philippine consulate general in Macau also confirmed that an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) became the Chinese territory’s 15th COVID-19 case.

Chief Justice cleared

According to media reports, the worker, a 31-year-old hotel restaurant employee, arrived at Macau via Hong Kong on March 16 and visited a hospital the following day for fever and toothache.

The OFW left Macau on Jan. 26 and stayed in the Philippines until March 16.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, who felt unwell after traveling to the Netherlands early this month, has tested negative for COVID-19.

In a statement issued by the Supreme Court’s public information office on Friday, Peralta reassured his colleagues in the judiciary, as well as the general public, “that he is continuing his work from home and that he is closely monitoring the situation of the courts throughout the country.”

Peralta led a delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) general affairs and policy meeting from March 1 to 7 to witness the submission of the instrument of accession to the HCCH Service Convention, and to receive a briefing from HCCH officials on conventions of interest to the court.

The Chief Justice, who is turning 68 on March 27, did not get tested upon arrival as he showed no symptoms. But he later developed a persistent cough for which he went on home quarantine.

He was later advised by doctors to be tested for COVID-19 in accordance with DOH guidelines, since he had traveled to a COVID-19-infected country.

Prioritize severe cases

According to the DOH, patients under investigation will only be tested if they is experience severe symptoms.

But elderly people who manifest symptoms, whether mild or severe, and those who have underlying medical conditions, should automatically be tested for possible infection.

Aside from those exceptions, the DOH said there was no need to conduct mass testing for COVID-19, as was done in South Korea, because “it has yet to show proven effectiveness” in addressing the pandemic.

“What we are saying about mass testing is that, based on our situation, we cannot put this in our guidelines. Our protocol is to prioritize those [with] severe cases, with underlying conditions or those from the vulnerable group like the elderly,” Vergeire said.

“If we come to the point that our experts would recommend it, we would do it based on evidence,” she added.

Vergeire noted that testing for COVID-19 is a “highly scientific and complicated process,” which if not done properly could put health care workers as well as the community at risk.

She pointed out that South Korea was able to test the general public for COVID-19 because it has a “capable health system and capacity for that.”

“The reports that there’s a bit of a delay in the release of results are true,’’ she added. “We are being challenged right now, but we have already tried to spread the capacity to different facilities so testing could speed up.”