MANILA, Philippines — Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday downplayed the observed inconsistencies in the COVID-19 cases data of the Department of Health (DOH), saying those disparities were too nominal to affect the complete statistics and decision making of the government.
“We assure the public that the issues raised are less than one percent, maliit pa sa isang porsyento (smaller than one percent) of the whole data and does not prejudice the overall data and decision making,” the DOH chief said during an online Palace briefing.
Duque has likewise already vowed investigation on the supposed data errors so DOH could correct it,
The University of the Philippines (UP) COVID-19 response team earlier disclosed “alarming” lapses on the DOH’s data on novel coronavirus patients.
The group pointed out that from April 24 to 25, or in just one day, there were 45 cases that changed genders while at least 75 patients became either older or younger.
Further, 516 were reclassified to a different city or location while one patient was reported dead then later on reported among the living patients the next day.
But according to Duque, “As early as April 26, we have since corrected these issues and we very much appreciate the UP resilience institute for raising their concerns.”
As of May 12, DOH said the Philippines has recorded 11,350 COVID-19 cases with 751 deaths and 2,106 recoveries.