DOH: COVID-19 deaths in NCR Plus declining; increasing in other areas

DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire. (FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — While the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is declining in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus area, the contrary is being observed in other areas of the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

DOH Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire made the remark after the health department logged the deaths of 210 patients from COVID-19.

“Definitely we are telling everybody, bumambaba ang deaths natin sa NCR Plus pero kailangan pa ring bantayan kasi nakikita nating mayroong pagtaas naman ng pagkakamatay sa ibang lugar dito sa ating bansa,” Vergeire said in a media briefing.

(We are telling everybody, there is a decline in the deaths in NCR Plus but we still have to monitor the situation because we can see that there is an increase in deaths in other parts of the country.)

Vergeire explained that not all of the 210 deaths reported on Thursday, May 27, were recent.

She said that some of the deaths were as early as December 2020 but were only recently verified.

“We receive the report of deaths from our hospitals and the data collection and also we receive it from the community. From the data collect, we don’t need validation anymore,” Vergeire said.

“Pero yung galing sa komunidad, ibinabalik namin sa ating regional and local governments for them to validate these deaths at sometimes ‘yung balik talaga sa atin ay nagkakaroon ng delay kaya mayroon tayong mga ibang buwan ay nakakasama sa ating talaan,” she added.

(But when it comes to the communities, we bring these back to the regional and local governments for them to validate these deaths, and sometimes, the reports were delayed so they are included in the count even if they happened a few months ago.)

/MUF