DOH: ‘Fresh,’ ‘late’ distinction needed due to careful validation process

The Department of Health said that its classification of COVID-19 cases as "fresh" or "late" when reporting the daily numbers is necessary due to the apparently painstaking nature of the validation process.

In a briefing on Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said that the validation process takes time because it includes: checking that the individual has only been listed once; checking that their name is accurate; and checking that they have only been listed by just one laboratory.

“Sa line list ng laboratories, ang unang step po ay tinitignan po natin kung itong pasyente ay isang beses lang nailista, kasi meron pong mga pasyente na ginagawan ng second, third and fourth test. Kung mag-double entry po, tatanggalin po natin,” Vergeire said.

“Second, may mga pangalan na 'Ma.' ang nailagay pero 'Maria' pala dapat. Kailangan po ayusin iyon. Third, yung na-identify na new case ng laboratory, dapat andun lang siya nakalista sa laboratory na iyon. Hindi siya puede ma-tag ng ibang laboratory. This is the process of validation of our Epidemiology Bureau,” she said.

In an earlier press release, the DOH explained that "'fresh cases' refer to test results [that] came out and were validated by the Epidemiology Bureau in the last three days. 'Late cases' are those whose results came out four days ago or more but were just recently confirmed."

Vergeire said that the "fresh" and "late" distinction is made in the spirit of transparency.

“Ginamit po natin iyong fresh and late cases [na classification] para hindi magkagulo ang isip ng mga tao . This is a temporary classification habang vina-validate po namin ang mga kaso. We just want to be transparent,” she said.

“Sa mga nagsasabi po na iyong fresh and late cases eh pareho lang na positive at nakakahawa, importante rin po na malaman natin ang timeline ng mga kaso kasi iyong fresh cases po ay indication ng bagong kasong pumapasok sa bawat araw, at ito po [na mga fresh cases] ang mas probable na magkaroon ng transmission,” Vergeire added.

The Philippines has recorded 18,638 COVID-19 cases thus far.  Of this number, 3,979 recovered while 960 have died.

On Monday, Vergeire said that the Health department was still working to confirm 6,800 possible COVID-19 cases.

“This is a temporary way of reporting because we want to be transparent, at gusto po namin ang complete picture. As long as ma-validate na po natin lahat ng line list ng laboratories, we will revert to reporting the case bulletin as before,” Vergeire added.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Luzon and certain highly urbanized cities across the countries under enhanced community quarantine or modified enhanced community quarantine from March 16 to May 31—a measure that banned mass gathering and mass transport—to prevent COVID-19 transmission. This measure has resulted in work stoppages in many industries.

Quarantine rules have been eased since June 1 to allow around 75% of the workforce per company to physically go back to work as resumption of 10 to 50% of mass transport amid the Health department’s declaration that the case doubling time of COVID-19 cases has taken longer at six to seven days from the previous two to four days. — BM, GMA News