PH logs 3,954 new COVID-19 cases, 38k recoveries—DOH

FILE — A woman gets a swab test for the new coronavirus at Santa Ana Hospital in Manila on Tuesday.—RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines recorded on Thursday the highest single-day increase with 3,954 new COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.

The number of new cases was earlier disclosed in a resolution of the government’s COVID-19 task force.

Of the new cases, 1,320 of were were “fresh” or newly validated while 2,634 were “late.”

This brings the total caseload in the entire country to 89,374. Of the number, DOH said only 22,327 are active cases.

The DOH also recorded the highest number of recoveries in a day with 38,075, bringing the total to 65,064.

The staggering increase in number of recoveries was “due to enhanced data reconciliation efforts with local government units through Oplan Recovery,” DOH said.

Oplan Recovery is the DOH’s initiative to “monitor the statuses of confirmed COVID-19 cases.”

In a statement, the DOH said that of the total number of recoveries, 909 were validated from regional epidemiological surveillance units, while the 37,166 were from efforts of Oplan Recovery.

The health department disclosed that earlier this month, it created the COVID-19 Surveillance and Quick Action Unit which focuses on “data collection, validation, and reconciliation of information available at the local and national level, through the COVIDKaya platform.”

“These massive data reconciliation efforts have resulted in faster and more accurate tagging of health statuses-particularly on deaths and recoveries. Data on recovery reconciliations will be reported every 15 days,” the department said.

The reconciliation activity, according to the DOH said, resulted in over 3,000 identified recovered cases from July 12-14.

“On July 15, the data team implemented a ‘mass recovery’ adjustment wherein all mild and asymptomatic cases have been re-tagged as recovered with endorsement from the regional offices which resulted around 5,000 additional recoveries,” the DOH added.

Twenty-three patients, meanwhile, succumbed to COVID-19 with the death toll now at 1,983.

CFC