HEALTH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday brushed aside doubts raised in some quarters that manipulation could occur in the results of the number of cases being reported by government following the use of rapid antigen test results in the tally of Covid-19.
“Bakit natin ima-manipulate [Why are we going to manipulate the results]? What would be the objective [if the DOH will do the manipulation]? Ang gusto nating ipakita ay ang totoong nangyayari sa ground [What we want to show is the real situation on the ground],” Vergeire clarified.
She said the DOH has always been “transparent” and “accurate” in releasing the Covid data.
“The integrity of our data, you can check it. It is being validated everyday,” the DOH official added, stressing that all implementing units have access to their data.
“I can assure that no manipulation will happen,” Vergeire vowed.
The DOH said that they will also include suspect and probable cases and close contacts with positive rapid antigen tests from areas with declared outbreaks—in this case the NCR Plus area which covers Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan, and Laguna, as confirmed in the daily case count, as well as in the total case count being reported by the department.
However, reporting of Covid-19 cases shall be disaggregated based on the type of test used.
“Those cases who tested positive but do not fit the case definition of suspect and probable case or close contact under existing DOH issuances shall be retested using RT-PCR for them to be tagged as a confirmed Covid-19 case,” Vergeire said.
