DOH reports the usual as decision on lockdown due

MANILA, Philippines — With just a little over a week before the Luzon lockdown ends, the Department of Health (DOH) remained mum on the extent of the coronavirus epidemic in the country as of its press conference on Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire mainly provided updates on the number of new infections and on the supply of personal protective equipment expected to be delivered.

Two strategies

Vergeire also did not say whether the epidemic is worsening or tapering off, although this is among the factors for President Duterte’s consideration in deciding whether to extend anew or loosen the lockdown after April 30.

What she did stress was that the DOH is employing two strategies to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19: prevent more cases and manage the contacts and cases early.

On Sunday, Vergeire announced that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) was scaling down operations to give way for the implementation of “safety measures to ensure the safety of health-care workers.”

She, however, did not provide on Monday any additional information on why this had to be done and if there were RITM employees who had contracted COVID-19, although RITM chief Celia Carlos said in a television interview that the institute had at least 40 staff members who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The latest report released by the DOH on Friday showed that at least 766 health-care workers have tested positive for the virus. Of this, 339 are doctors, while 242 are nurses. The same report shows that 22 health workers have died.

Vergeire likewise did not explain the state of medical front-liners despite repeated queries about why there has been a spike in the number of infected health workers even when the number of new cases in nearly two weeks has stabilized at around 200.

Under the DOH’s media guidelines for its virtual press briefing, journalists are asked to submit their questions by

10 a.m., or six hours ahead of its 4 p.m. airing. There are no opportunities for follow-up questions as the agency on average only picks at most three questions from journalists.

8,000 tests daily

On Monday, the DOH only responded to one query from its “media partners.” Asked on the percentage of the population that needed to be tested for the coronavirus, Vergeire said the agency was targeting to test 8,000 daily, since this was the “average number [of people] who may be affected by the respiratory disease according to our experts.”

Currently, there are 17 accredited testing centers nationwide, which have a total daily testing capacity of around 4,000.

The DOH aims to start its targeted 8,000 tests daily by the end of the month, or next week, with 40 more laboratories awaiting accreditation.

To date, a total of 55,465 tests have been done since February.

As for the test kits developed by the University of the Philippines’ National Institutes of Health, Vergeire said that these will be distributed within the week to six hospitals—Philippine General Hospital, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, Makati Medical Center and The Medical City.

The 1,300 UP kits can be used for up to 26,000 tests, she said.

As of Monday, total COVID-19 cases reached 6,459 as 200 new cases were recorded. There are already a total 613 patients who have recovered from COVID-19, with the addition of 41 patients. The death toll, however, increased to 428 as 19 more patients succumbed to the disease.

Vergeire said that three of the eight designated community quarantines have started taking in COVID-19 patients. A total 91 patients are currently admitted at Las Piñas Rehabilitation Center, Quezon Institute and Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The three centers have a combined capacity 262 patients. INQ