(Eagle News) – The Department of Health announced declining deaths in the past few weeks as it reported 552 COVID-19 cases on Monday, June 1, bringing the total coronavirus cases in the country to 18,638.
In a virtual presser, the DOH said that the fresh cases, or those confirmed in the past three days, were only 119, while the rest, 433, were called “late cases” meaning confirmed cases based on test results released to patients more than three days ago.
The DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire pointed out that the doubling time of COVID-19 cases are now slowing down, while the number of deaths continued to decline consistently in the past few weeks, parrticularly in the months of April and May.
Vergeire also cited the findings of epidemiologist Dr. Troy Gepte who saw the number of increasing cases being reported recently would show current trends that would bring the COVID cases closer to the real situation on the ground.
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“Ito po ay isang paraan para makita ang transparency po…Pinapakita na kung ano ang ating progress,” Dr. Gepte said.
He noted that there were even cases when the doubling time slowed down to almost a week.
The number of deaths due to COVID also showed steep decline this April and May, Dr. Gepte said. This was in sharp contrast to the sharp increase in COVID-19 deaths in March.
More than 90 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the country are also mild, while only 6.5 percent are symptomatic. Less than 1 percent, or just 0.5 percent are severe or critical cases, as of May 31, 2020 data.
Dr. Gepte said that as more fresh cases are separated from late cases, the public would see the more real situation in the country.
“Unti-unti po tayong nakakapagbuo ng klarong picture,” Vergeire said.
She noted that there are laboratories which submit data on late cases, likening these to students submitting late school reports afer the deadline has ended.
There is now an ongoing “aggressive reconciliation of cases”, the data of which are added to the daily reports.
“Kahit na tumaas po ang bilang ng mga kaso, hindi po nangangahulugan na lumala na ang ating situation,” Vergeire said as she noted how the country’s health care system can still manage the COVID-19 cases, most of which were just mild.
As of 4 p.m., Monday, June 1, the total COVID-19 recoveries were almost 4,000, or 3,979 to be exact with the addition of 70 reported recoveries.
The new deaths added were just three, bringing the total COVID fatalities to 960.
(Eagle News Service)
