DOH to issue COVID-19 data with analysis to replace case bulletins

Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) will post COVID-19 data with brief analysis to replace the daily case bulletins starting January next year, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Tuesday.

According to Vergeire, the DOH decided to stop issuing the case bulletins posted on social media daily at 4 p.m. because “most of the details that are included in the case bulletin are not so much useful to the citizens anymore.”

“What they would like to look at every day would just be the number of cases, maybe the number of deaths, but the main messages towards the bottom of this case bulletin is not really being appreciated,” she told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

“So what we did, we tried to restrategize and discuss with our team, and now what we are going to do, we will stop issuing this case bulletin but the information will not stop,” she said.

The DOH earlier said that case updates will be provided through its online tracker starting January. But according to Vergeire, they will still issue advisories that will include the daily reported cases and brief analysis of the figures.

She noted that the new format is better than just providing raw data.

“Previously, you’d find the number of cases, recoveries, deaths, positivity rate, how much were sampled, you’d find the number of beds occupied, but in this advisories that we will be issuing out, we will still provide the reported number of cases for that day, but after that, we will have a brief analyzed data that we will be providing to them,” said Vergeire.

“For example, if positivity rate is 1.3 percent, we will tell them that for this past week this 1.3 has been our positivity rate, compared to the previous week which was at 0.9 percent, and that means this and that, so there is this analysis already so they can be better guided and the main messaging would be captured by our citizens,” she further explained.

The DOH’s decision to stop issuing case bulletins comes as Metro Manila sees a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases in the previous week amid the holiday season.

Based on DOH data released on Monday, Metro Manila recorded an average of 115 new COVID-19 cases from December 20 to 26, which is 49 percent higher than the 77 average daily cases from December 13 to 19.

Vergeire said the increase is not yet significant but it is a warning that coronavirus infections may again rise. She also said that the situation needs to be monitored for a few more weeks to see if the numbers will continue to increase.

JPV