MANILA, Philippines — The doubling time of coronavirus cases, or the time it takes for newly-reported cases to increase two-fold, has slowed to seven days, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday.
“Based on our data analytics sa mga ginawang pag-aaral ng ating mga eksperto, we have a case doubling time of seven days,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing.
“So kung dati bago tayo mag-ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) meron tayong two to three days na case doubling time, noong nagpatupad tayo ng ECQ napahaba natin ang case doubling time to about five days. Ngayon, ang ating computation is about seven days,” she also said.
(Before we started ECQ, we have recorded two to three days of case doubling time. When we implemented ECQ, we extended the case doubling time to about five days. Now, our computation is about seven days.)
ECQ was implemented in Luzon on March 17 to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Several quarantine measures were also later set up in other parts of the country.
As of Wednesday, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 15,049, with 380 new cases. The death toll is now at 904 while the number of patients who have recovered is at 3,506.