DOH temporarily adjusts COVID-19 reporting protocol

The Department of Health (DOH) said it made temporary changes to its reporting protocol after a low number of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases was reported on Thursday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said only 81 percent or 58 of the 72 licensed laboratories nationwide submitted line lists for validation to the DOH on Thursday.

The DOH reported only 294 new COVID-19 cases on July 2, significantly lower than the average of at least 800 new infections in the past weeks.

“Mababa po ang bilang ng reported cases natin na ito maaaring dahil po nag-adjust po tayo ng oras kung kailan natin ine-extract galing sa DOH Epidemiology Bureau ang datos mula po sa COVIDKAYA system,” she said.

“Mula po sa dati na 24 hours ay 19 hours’ worth of data lamang ang mga numero natin ngayon... upang mabigyan ang ating Epidemiology Bureau ng mas mahabang oras na gumawa ng in-depth analysis sa mga datos na inilalabas po natin,” Vergeire added.

The health official said the adjustment was only temporary but did not specify until when the shortened data extraction time will be observed.

The Philippines has logged a total of 38,805 COVID-19 cases with 10,673 recoveries and 1,274 deaths as of Thursday afternoon. -NB, GMA News