DOH: COVID-19 trend in PH is determined once testing capacity stabilized

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH spokesperson. INQUIRER.net file photo / CONSUELO MARQUEZ

MANILA, Philippines — Only when the testing capacity for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country has stabilized then it could be determined whether the number of cases of the disease is in an increasing or decreasing trend.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday said that the country’s testing capacity has to reach 8,000 to 10,000 tests a day before the true picture of the COVID-19 pandemic could be seen.

But for now, it can be said that the number of confirmed cases in the country is increasing based on the day-to-day records, she said.

“Once our capacity have stabilized already then we can already say na ito na yung true picture na mayroon tayo but for now we can say na tumataas ang mga kaso sa pang-araw araw,” Vergeire said in an interview over dzMM.

(Once our capacity has stabilized then we can already say that this is the true picture of what we have, but for now we can say that the number of cases are increasing per day.)

“Once we reach 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day, then we can say that we have stabilized and we are identifying already those supposed to be identified,” she added.

The government is set to conduct mass testing on April 14, and the Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that it is aiming to conduct 3,000 tests per day by April 14.

It is also aiming to achieve the 8,000 tests per day capacity by the end of April.

Vergeire earlier said that it is still too early to tell whether the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is on the downtrend, as claimed by Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the national action policy against COVID-19.

“Hindi pa natin masasabi kung bumababa na ang curve o ang bilang ng mga kaso ng COVID-19 sa ating bansa,” she said during a virtual press briefing.

(We cannot yet tell if the curve has already gone down or the number of cases have gone down in the country.)

“Maaga pa upang makapagsabi tayo kung bumababa na o patuloy na tumataas ang bilang ng kaso… Kailangan pa natin ng mas masusing pag-aaral,” she added.

(It is too early to tell if the cases are decreasing or continuously increasing. We need to study it more.)

The Philippines so far have 3,764 confirmed cases of the disease, with 177 fatalities and 84 recoveries.

Edited by JPV