DOH eyes 95% recovery rate for COVID-19 cases

Despite the Philippines ranking 20th on the list of countries with the most number of people infected with COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) maintained that the country is doing well in terms of number of recoveries as it eyes more number of patients recovered from the disease.

In an interview on state-run PTV’s Laging Handa, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said what the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center has done with the rankings is only to get the cumulative number of cases recorded by every country.

“When we say cumulative number it’s the totally of number from the start... na nag umpisa tayong mag-reporting. Sa ngayon may 316,000 tayo na mga kaso ‘yan po ang nakatala at nira-rank nila,” Vergeire said.

Latest data from the DOH as of October 2 showed the Philippines has recorded a total of 361,678 COVID-19 cases, of which 254,617 have recovered, 56,445 are active cases, and 5,616 have died.

“We only have 56,000 active cases... marami dito sa 56,000 na to ay mild at asymptomatic. Ang importanting dapat tignan nasa 80% na po tayo sa recoveries natin,” Vergeire said.

“We want to target 95% recovery rate at the soonest possible time,” she said.

The Health official said that the current 80% recovery rate could increase as the DOH await complete data on the so-called “time-based tagging” —patients who have recovered but are not yet tagged as such by laboratories or local government units.

Vergeire also emphasized that the Philippines has a very low case fatality rate or the number of deaths relative to the total people infected.

“‘Pag tinigan natin ang case fatality rate natin, ang case fatality rate natin is less than 2%. This is about 1.8%,” she said.

On the Johns Hopkins list, the Philippines overtook Pakistan, which fell to the 21st spot with 312,806 cases. At the 19th spot is Italy with 314,861 cases. 

The United States remains at the top of the list with 7,273,244 cases, followed by India with 6,312,584, and Brazil with 4,810,935. -MDM, GMA News