COVID-19 data backlog still at 1,500

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s laboratories still have to process about 1,500 backlogged test results for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as of June 8.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Tuesday said laboratories were able to reduce some 4,000 test backlogs since May.

However, the health department was not yet able to completely eradicate backlogs due to laboratory issues.

She noted that COVID-19 accredited testing centers such as the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center encountered problems in its laboratory which hindered the processing of test results.

“By the end of last week, mayroon tayong natirang 1,000 na backlogs. Noong Saturday, nagkaroon ako ng report na 2,200 backlogs. Yesterday, it was down to 1,509,” Vergeire said in an online media forum.

(By the end of last week, we had only about 1,000 backlogs. By Saturday, we have 2,200 backlogs. Yesterday it was down to 1,509.)

The Department of Health (DOH) has been fast-tracking its test results in the last few weeks to eliminate backlogs and release real-time data on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

However, it is still bouncing back from operational issues in laboratories, which also affected the average actual testing capacity COVID-19, which is about 8,000 to 9,000 a day.

The DOH also changed the way it reported its day-to-day COVID-19 cases, separating “fresh” cases from “late” cases.

Fresh cases are test results that came out and were validated by the DOH’s Epidemiology Bureau in the last three days, while “late” cases are test results that came out four or more days ago but were only recently validated.

This classification is only temporary until the country’s laboratories clear up its case backlogs.