DOH logs lower number of COVID-19 cases due to technical glitch

FILE PHOTO: A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to COVID-19, shared with Reuters on February 18, 2020. NEXU Science Communication/via REUTERS

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) recorded only 12,751 additional COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a lower figure due to technical issues in the department’s reporting system.

According to DOH, the agency encountered technical issues in the extraction of updated data from COVID Kaya–a digital platform for COVID-19 information management–on September 7. Due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, the department has been recording over 20,000 single-day increases in the recent days before this incident.

“This issue is currently being resolved with the Department of Information and Communications Technology. We can expect higher numbers in the next few days as we resolve the issue,” the department said.

Meanwhile, the additional cases brought the country’s active coronavirus infections to 151,135, composing 7.1 percent of all the 2,134,005 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

Some 91.3 percent of the tally or 1,948,198 are COVID-19 survivors. There were 20,151 more patients who have recovered from the disease, according to DOH.

Meanwhile, 174 more patients have died, taking the death toll to 34,672, which makes up 1.62 percent of the total confirmed cases.

On positivity rate, the DOH said 28.1 percent or the 57,260 people who were tested were found positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. All testing laboratories were operational on Monday but five were not able to submit their data on time. In the last two weeks, the non-reporting labs contributed 2.2 percent of tested samples and 2.7 percent of positive individuals.

The DOH removed 54 duplicate entries, including 46 recoveries, from the total case count. Moreover, 80 cases that were initially tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

JPV