Record-high 401 COVID-19 fatalities include deaths from previous months, says DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The 401 record-high single-day due to COVID-19 reported on Friday included deaths from as early as January, but were only recently validated, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

In a televised briefing on Saturday, DOH spokesperson Usec. Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the figure includes seven deaths in January, 45 in February and 287 in March.

“Ito po kasi yung continuous kasi tayo na nagva-validate ng deaths and the sources of information coming from the local government and the hospitals,” Vergeire explained.

(This is from our continuous validation of deaths and the sources of information coming from the local governments and the hospitals.)

READ: PH logs biggest daily COVID-19 death toll at 401; 12,225 new infections

“Pero pag tinignan natin, recent naman po itong March and April and we can really see that the cases of deaths are increasing,” she added.

(But if we look at it, the deaths in March and April were recent and we can really see that the cases of deaths are increasing.)

Vergeire said the DOH has no problem with data coming from hospitals as it is complete, with details on the cause and death of death.

“Ang medyo nagkakaroon tayo ng delays would be coming from our disease reporting units sa local governments kasi usually when they get the data from their deaths, hindi po kumpleto,” she explained.

(We are having delays coming from our disease reporting units in local governments because the data they get on deaths is usually incomplete.)

Vergeire said they cannot include the figures in the official tally without complete details and validation.

EDV