DOH: COVID-19 mortality doubling time, transmission rate down

MANILA, Philippines — The doubling time for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths and transmission rate in the country has decreased, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday.

“’Yung doubling time po ng pagkamatay dito sa Pilipinas, kung dati po nasa mga 6.7 days tayo na nagdodoble ang mga namamatay, ngayon po umaabot na tayo sa 10 to 15 days (The doubling time of mortality here in the Philippines was at 6.7 days, but now it is at 10 to 15 days),”  Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

Vergeire added that on the average,  a COVID-19 patient can infect only one other person.

“Dati po ang isang tao ay makakapanghawa ng tatlo hanggang apat noong nag-umpisa po tayo, pero ngayon po bumaba na po itong R-naught na tinatawag or transmission rate na sinasabing ang isang tao ngayon, nakakapanghawa na lang ng isa,” she added.

(Before, a person who has COVID-19 can infect an average of three to four persons, but now, the R-naught or the transmission rate has decreased, with one person only able to infect just one person.)

Earlier, Vergeire also said that doubling time of coronavirus cases, or the time it takes for newly-reported cases to increase two-fold, has slowed to seven days.

She noted that before quarantine measures were set up in March, the case doubling time in the country was marked at two to three days.

According to the health official, these are indications that the government’s response against the coronavirus pandemic, including quarantine protocols, is working.

Within the next two weeks, the DOH will submit to the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases its recommendation on whether or not the general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ implemented in the country since Monday will continue.

As of Monday, COVID-19 cases in the country jumped to 18,638, with 960 deaths and 3,979 recoveries.

GSG