MANILA, Philippines — Even while the number of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines are soaring, the government task force addressing the outbreak announced that the case doubling time of infections has slowed down.
Citing information presented by experts to the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, its spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Tuesday the doubling time of the number of confirmed cases in the country is now less than three days, a month after implementing the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) over the entire Luzon, and other regions.
“‘Yung case doubling time ng Pilipinas ay bumagal na. It’s less than three days. ‘Yung positivity rate is slowly decreasing. And ‘yung percentage of new cases is bending downwards,” Nograles said in a virtual briefing.
(The case doubling time in the Philippines has slowed down. It’s less than three days. The positivity rate is slowly decreasing. The percentage of new cases is bending downwards.)
“That is more accurate now than before kasi mas marami na yung tests na naco-conduct. Noon kasi hindi tayo masyadong kampante dahil hindi ganun kalawak ang testing natin,” he added.
(That is more accurate now than before because more tests are being conducted. Before, we were not complacent because the testing being done was not as broad as now.)
Nograles pointed this out as he stressed that experts told the IATF that the peak of COVID-19 infections in the country could have infected 1.9 to 8.3 million Filipinos based on different models if countermeasures were not put in place.
“Ang mga estimates na pinakita samin, yung isang estimate sinabi nila, maaaring potential peak na infected ng COVID-19 kung papabayaan lang natin ito at wala tayong gagawin is 1.9 million Filipinos. ‘Yung isang estimate sinabi aabot tayo ng peak na 5.2 million Filipinos infected ng COVID-19. ‘Yung isa, sinabi aabot tayo ng 6.2 million Filipinos infected ng COVID-19. ‘Yung isa sinabi, 8.3 million Filipinos infected ng COVID-19,” he said.
(According to estimates shown to us, the potential peak of COVID-19 infection if no measures are put in place is at 1.9 million Filipinos. Another showed the peak at 5.2 million Filipinos, 6.2 million Filipinos and 8.3 million Filipinos infected by COVID-19.)
Mass testing of suspected COVID-19 patients began Tuesday. It aims to process 3,000 tests daily.
Identification of more patients will enable the government to give them their needed health care, IATF earlier said.
The Philippines has so far recorded 4,932 cases of COVID-19 with 315 fatalities, making it the number one country in Southeast Asia with the most number of infections, followed closely by Malaysia, based on the figures provided by the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.