Vergeire: DOH has always been transparent on coronavirus situation

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday maintained that it had always been transparent in providing information to the public on the new coronavirus epidemic in the country.

“From the very start, [the] DOH has been transparent with the data. You can see everything that we do. We have an open system — the data drop — where everyone can see our data,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

According to Vergeire, when the DOH decided last week to divide into two categories the reported confirmed coronavirus cases, it considered not only the experts’ advice but also the public’s suggestions. She pointed out that doing so was meant to ensure that the DOH data would be “clear and better understood.”

Reporting system revised

With the spike in the number of coronavirus cases since Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon accused the DOH of not being transparent with its data, especially after the agency decided nearly three months since the outbreak began to recategorize the cases to “fresh” and “late.” On Monday, he dared the DOH to come clean on its decision. (See story below.)

Under the new DOH reporting system, fresh cases are those who tested positive and validated by the agency in the last three days, while late cases are those whose results were released to patients four or more days ago.

Epidemiologist Troy Gepte backed the DOH, saying that by distinguishing which of the cases are fresh, it provides the public a glimpse into the “current trend” of the outbreak in the country.

Vergeire reiterated that the increase in the number of new cases in the last few days was mainly due to the shift to an automated system that sped up the validation process. Currently, there are still 6,800 cases for validation, she said.

On Monday, the DOH reported 552 new cases, bringing the national tally to 18,638. Of the new cases, 119 are fresh while 433 are late. Metro Manila accounted for the majority of the new cases, 231.

The total number of recovered patients increased to 3,979 with the recovery of 70 more patients. The death toll, however, rose to 960 as three patients succumbed to the severe respiratory disease.

Deaths declining

Since March 31, Vergeire said the number of fatalities by date of death has been declining, indicating better management of cases. From a seven-day moving average of 25.3, it has dropped to 3.3 on May 18 to 1.6 on May 26.

The DOH noted, however, that because there is an average 12-day delay between the death of a patient and when the death is reported, “we can assume that the deaths occurring after May 18 are not yet completely reported.” It added that there are at least 183 patients whose exact dates of death are still being confirmed.

Of the total 13,220 active cases, 12,285 are mild, 57 are severe while 19 are critical. The rest are asymptomatic.