The number of Covid-19 cases in the country rose to 18,638 on Monday but the Department of Health (DOH) declared a “small victory” because it says the doubling time and fatality rate of the disease have gone down.
During the DOH Beat Covid-19 virtual press conference, public health epidemiologist Dr. Troy Gepte disclosed the observed improvement and said that it is a good indication that “we are coping up with the pandemic.”
Dr. Gepte said that there was an increase in the mortality rate in March but the number started to decrease in April and May.
He also noted that the case doubling time is currently averaging at 7 days.
Case doubling time, or the time it takes for the number of cases to increase twofold, provides policy makers an idea of whether or not the transmission of the virus is slowing down.
Outside of the number of confirmed cases, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire explained that case doubling time and fatality rate are among the factors that provide the clearer picture of Covid-19 in the country.
The observed improvement, she claimed, is a “small victory”.
While mortality due to Covid-19 has been on the decline since late March, assuring the DOH that the healthcare sector’s treatment of the illness has been progressively improving, Vergeire stressed that it is also important to look at the critical care utilization rate.
The critical care utilization rate is a figure that indicates the capacity of the healthcare system to handle severe cases, as seen in how much of the intensive care facilities is currently used, and how much is available for use.
Currently, she said the critical care utilization rate of the intensive care unit beds is at 33 percent and 19 percent for mechanical ventilators.
“This is also a sign that our healthcare facility is not overwhelmed,” she said.
New cases
As of 4 p. m. of June 1, 2020, the DOH reported 552 new confirmed cases. Of the number 119 fresh cases while 433 late cases.
Vergeire noted that there is an ongoing aggressive data reconciliation of cases by the Epidemiology Bureau and daily reports that were submitted late.
The DOH also announced that there were 70 recoveries. This brings the total number of recoveries to 3,979.
Only three deaths were also recorded. The death toll stood at 960.
Vergeire reiterated that the new DOH reformatted the presentation of the Covid-19 case data to provide a better understanding of both the pandemic and the national response. The new format now differentiates between fresh and late cases.
The DOH official said that fresh cases refer to test results came out and were validated by the Epidemiology Bureau in the last three days while late cases are those whose results came out four days ago or more but were just recently confirmed.
She also noted that the increase in cases reported over the last week was a result of the DOH’s aggressive efforts to catch up with the backlog.
Image credits: Bernard Testa
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