Reporting delays may reflect ‘irregularly high’ number of COVID-19 cases – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — Days after new infections appeared to have started tapering off, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday the country might see an “irregularly high number of cases” in the coming days due to the reporting delays brought about by efforts to further improve data management.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH required all of the accredited laboratories to submit the addresses and phone numbers of people tested for COVID-19 starting Sept. 1 to help improve the government’s contact tracing strategy.

Because of this requirement, cases submitted by the laboratories will not be reflected in the DOH’s system unless the contact information has been provided. Some of the laboratories have been unable to comply.

“We may have an irregularly high number of cases in the coming days as cases from these laboratories get reported … We expect that this is a onetime occurrence and laboratories have changed their processes to ensure those information are included in the reports provided to [the] DOH and of course to their local government[s],” she said.

Tracking difficulty

Prior to the directive, Vergeire said, local governments leading contact tracing efforts were unable to fully locate people who may have been infected with the new coronavirus due to the incomplete patient information. This prevents them from catching and crushing infection clusters early, she said.

“Before, we were only able to trace 45 percent of contacts with a ratio of 1:3 or 1:5. Now, the ratio is 1:4 to 1:10 and almost 70 percent of contacts are being traced,” she said.

The DOH does not see the reporting delay to have an effect on current trends, Vergeire said, pointing out that the agency remained “cautiously optimistic that we are beginning to see the fruits of our increased response,” particularly in Metro Manila.

“But with this optimism, we shouldn’t become complacent. That’s why we have been very cautious in issuing out statements regarding these improvements,” she said.

“Although, we would want the people to know that yes, we are seeing improvements and there are good indicators, we still advise that we all continue to be the solution, to enforce and to comply with the minimum public health standards,” she added.

On Wednesday, the DOH recorded 3,176 new cases, pushing the national caseload to 245,143.

Of these cases, 2,793 fell ill between Aug. 27 and Sept. 9, while 264 got sick between Aug. 1 and 26. The additional cases were based on the submission of 105 of the 117 accredited laboratories.

Metro Manila reported the most number of new infections, 1,327, followed by Batangas (260), Laguna (193), Rizal (176) and Negros Occidental (155).

The DOH reported that 376 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 185,543. The death toll, however, rose to 3,986 with the deaths of 70 more patients.

Active cases

The deaths and recoveries left the country with 55,614 active cases, of which 88.3 percent were mild, 8.6 percent asymptomatic, 1.3 percent severe, and 1.8 percent critical.

Of the newly reported fatalities, 49 died this month, 10 in August, seven in July, three in June, and one in April. Thirty-six were from Metro Manila, eight from Calabarzon, six from Central Luzon, four from Soccsksargen, three from Western Visayas, three from Zamboanga, two each from Cagayan Valley, Bicol, Central Visayas and the Bangsamaro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and one each from Davao and Mimaropa.

The DOH also appealed to COVID-19 patients on Wednesday to move to isolation centers after officials said the government would no longer allow home quarantine as this was a possible contributor to the spikes in community infections.

Vergeire said that when National Task Force Against COVID-19 representatives made the rounds of various communities in Metro Manila recently, they observed that home quarantine was the “preferred” option, especially for patients with mild symptoms or were asymptomatic.

But because some houses did not have adequate space or the appropriate environment for patients to self-isolate, home-quarantining was faulted as one of the factors that drove community transmission, she said.

“That’s why it is now preferred by our government to place and isolate symptomatics and close contacts in the [temporary treatment and monitoring centers] instead of doing home quarantine to contain transmission,” Vergeire said.

On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and COVID-19 task force chief Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government would issue new guidelines “within the week” disallowing home quarantine and requiring mild and asymptomatic patients to be held in isolation centers.

Safe and effective

Also on Wednesday, Vergeire, commenting on President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that the Philippines would buy the cheapest vaccine offered to it, said that while the price of a vaccine mattered, procurement wouldn’t be based on price alone.

A vaccine should first be proven to be safe and effective before the country would buy it, she said.

“Of course, we want what is best for our population. That’s why we are trying to negotiate with all these manufacturers … because we want to find what is the most appropriate that we could use,” Vergeire said.

“When we buy vaccines, the primary issue is the vaccines’ safety [and] efficacy,” she added.