Duque says ‘no deliberate intention’ to not disclose info on coronavirus cases

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — While admitting that they faced “problems” in their reporting system, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday there was “no deliberate intention” from the health department to not disclose any important details regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Duque said this Wednesday during the House committee on health’s meeting on COVID-19 status and response as he attributed the delayed spread of the virus in the country to the imposition of travel ban on visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Niña Taduran asked Duque if the reason behind the sudden rise in the number of local transmission of the coronavirus disease in the country was the “delayed disclosure” of the Department of Health (DOH) regarding patients who tested positive from the virus.

This, however, was not the case, according to Duque.

“Dapat maintindihan natin na isa tayo sa mga bansa na nagtalaga ng (We should understand that we are one of the first countries to impose) absolute travel ban on persons and nationals coming from China and its special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau,” Duque said.

“At naniniwala po ang Inter-Agency Task Force na itong hakbang na ito ang siyang nakapag delay (The Inter-Agency Task Force believes that this move delayed) by a month the entry of the COVID virus in the local communities,” he added.

Duque also assured the public that there is “no deliberate intention” from the health department not to disclose any important details regarding the disease.

“‘Yung sinasabing hindi nag-disclose nagkaroon lang po ng kaunting aberya sa reporting system (With regard to reports of not disclosing information, there was a problem in the reporting system). Pero (But) I assure you there was no deliberate intention on the part of DOH to not disclose important pieces of information as can be legally allowed under the law,” Duque said.

In the same hearing, Duque said that under the National Privacy Act, they are only allowed to disclose the age, sex, and hospital of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

Duque said they cannot disclose the identity of the patients.

On Tuesday, the health department, through a social media post, reported that there were 35 confirmed cases of the disease in the country.

However, Assistant Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire later clarified in a press conference that the confirmed cases was 33, and not 35.

As of Wednesday morning, Duque said there are 33 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.

Of this number, 31 are deemed to be “mild to moderate” cases while the remaining two are “critical.”