DOH: Philippines’ health system has ‘improved’ despite 20th highest COVID-19 caseload
MANILA, Philippines — The response of the Philippines to the spread of the new coronavirus has improved, the Department of Health said Friday after the country entered the list of 20 countries with most number of COVID-19 infections.
With a total case count of 314,079, the became the country with the 20th highest caseload despite enforcing one of the longest lockdowns, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. It overtook Pakistan, which has 312,806 cases.
The Philippines also has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia.
But for the DOH, assessing how the country is faring in the fight against COVID-19 goes beyond the cumulative count as it pointed out that the country’s healthcare system has “tremendously improved.”
“So whatever would be this ranking across the globe, this would be because the totality of number of cases. But when we look at our active cases, recovery rate, our case fatality rate and our health system capacity, we see that we have improved and sa tingin natin nakakaagapay tayo sa ating response sa COVID-19,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
The number of active cases in the country stands at 54,294 or 17% of the total caseload.
Total recoveries rose to 254,223, while the death toll increased to 5,562. Total recoveries accounted for nearly 81% of total cases, while total fatalities accounted for 1.77%.
Vergeire said the country’s testing capacity has increased, units for COVID-19 patients in hospitals have been expanded and contact tracing efforts have become more “efficient.” The Department of the Interior and Local Government said it has filled 10,136 out of 50,000 posts for contact tracers opened following the signing of the Bayanihan 2 law.
“It’s not really just the number. We have to look at other variables,” she said.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque also said the country is “able to take care” of COVID-19 patients in response to the global ranking.
Decrease in new cases
The Philippines is still reporting thousands of new cases every day. But the DOH said there is a decrease in the number of additional infections.
“Similar to decreasing trend in the national level, the number of reported cases in National Capital Region is continuously declining starting August… If we look at that, our response has improved a lot compared to before,” Vergeire said.
However, there are still clusters of infections in some areas of the country and there is still need to ramp up contact tracing efforts, she said.
'Stagnant and underfunded'
The Coalition for People’s Right to Health stressed that while the country is no longer averaging 4,000 cases per day, the local transmission continues among provinces, citing the increased positivity rates across Mindanao and first cases in Batanes.
CPRH said some local government units are struggling to keep up with testing locally stranded individuals, their close contacts and the ensuing local transmission.
“This merely reflects the long-standing problem of health sector underdevelopment in the Philippines. Many of the poorer regions are unable to adequately provide for health infrastructure and services despite a system of devolution allegedly designed to put more responsibility and accountabilty on local politicians,” CPRH said.
“However, the reality is that health capabilities remain stagnant and underfunded, which COVID-19 merely exposed even further,” it added.
CPRH also called on health officials to assert their primary role in pandemic response by calling out violations and any policy that seeks to reopen the economy without any regard to improving health capacity.
“Quarantine protocols and health policies should only be debated on based on the merits of evidence and social determinants, not on perceived economic gains, political convenience, or the lobbying of those with vested interests. Otherwise, the country risks leading more in cases, or worse, risking the virus' persistence like many other diseases,” it said.
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