OVP to launch ‘simplified’ website showing COVID-19 status of LGUs

MANILA, Philippines — A new simplified website that will show how local government units (LGUs) are dealing with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) based on international standards will be launched by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Monday, Vice President Leni Robredo said.

In an interview in her Sunday radio program with DZXL, Robredo revealed that they have created a website that uses data provided by the Department of Health (DOH) that follow standards set by The Lancet COVID-19 Commission.

Last September, The Lancet COVID-19 Commission released a study that ranked the Philippines 66th out of 91 countries in terms of being able to suppress the spread of COVID-19.  In that paper, the Philippines’ status is currently at a moderate transmission.

“Noong lumabas iyong Lancet Study, parang international study ito ng parang performance ng mga bansa pagdating sa COVID-19 response, mayroon siyang mga international standards na ginagamit na sinusubukan naming gawin ng parang local version iyon para mas maayos iyong ating pag-analisa,” Robredo said.

(When the Lancet Study came out, it is an international study which gauged the performance of countries when it came to the COVID-19 response, they had international standards which we are trying to replicate in a local version so we could analyze data more efficiently.)

“So ito lahat, naka-base sa datos ng DOH pero sini-simplify namin. Gustong sabihin, sini-simplify namin pero ginagamit namin iyong international standards,” she added.

(So all of these were based on data provided by DOH but we would simplify them. We want to say that we can simplify this but we are using international standards.)

According to Robredo, they have observed that the DOH data is sometimes overwhelming as it is full of numbers that cannot be understood by some.  She also stressed that simply corresponding a specific LGU to its COVID-19 numbers is not enough, because there would be instances wherein transmissions would look bloated because it does not consider the total population in the said area.

Robredo cited the case of Quezon City, which has a high number of cases but also has one of the highest population and land area in Metro Manila.

“Sa office mula siguro isang buwan na na araw-araw kina-crunch namin iyong data, kasi hindi siya dapat, Ka Ely, i-analisa sa absolute numbers lang,” she explained.

(At the office, since a month ago, we have been crunching data because it should not be based solely with absolute numbers.)

“Halimbawa, example diyan Quezon City. Ang Quezon City ang laki-laki ng population so kapag tiningnan natin kung absolute numbers lang, makikita natin na pinakamarami iyong Quezon City,” she added.

(For example in Quezon City, a city with a big population so if we would look at it only using absolute numbers, we can see that most of the cases are in Quezon City.)

In the website, Robredo said areas with a high rate of transmission will have a red tag, while those with a moderate transmission will be in yellow. Local government units with a low rate of transmission will be in green.

Robredo said these may serve as a guide for the OVP and other government offices in determining which areas need assistance the most.

“Iyong tinitingnan natin ngayon, may dalawang regions na nakapula. Gustong sabihin, may dalawang regions na high pa iyong incidence at iyong regions na iyon ay NCR at saka Region 3. Pero kapag tiningnan natin iyong LGU level, city at saka municipality, iyong high incidence ay parang 71—71 LGUs and municipalities pa,” she noted.

(Now we are looking at two regions that are labeled red. This means there are two regions with a high incidence. These are NCR and Region 3. But if we would look at the LGU level, city, and municipality, the high incidence is in 71 LGUs and municipalities.)

“Kapag high incidence, […] mas lampas 100 iyong tinatamaan araw-araw for every 100,000 na population […] for the past month, ito na iyong nagiging basehan namin. Mas—ilang PPE ang ipapadala… Kapag medyo kaya na nung lugar, hindi na namin—mas kaunti na o hindi na muna tutulungan. Mas uunahin iyong mga lugar na talagang kailangan ng tulong,” she added.

(High incidence means more than 100 are infected daily for every 100,000 of the population — which has been our basis for the past month. Fewe PPEs are brought to areas which are responding well to measures, we lessen the amount of assistance to areas doing good, while prioritizing those who might need help.)

At present, the Philippines is in the top 20 countries with most COVID-19 cases, with 336,926 cases as of Saturday, of which over 54,000 are active cases.  there are also 276,094 patients who recovered from the virus, while 6,238 succumbed to the disease.

READ: PH COVID-19 tally reaches 336,926; more than 54k active cases

/MUF