Philippine COVID-19 deaths down 86%; heart disease top killer

MANILA, Philippines — The number of fatalities due to COVID-19 dropped significantly last year, while heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the country, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

From January to November 2022, the country logged 16,080 COVID deaths, or 85.6 percent lower than the 111,599 fatalities recorded during the same period in 2021.

By classification, COVID – with the virus identified or confirmed by a laboratory test – was the 11th leading cause of death with 11,377 cases or two percent of the total fatalities from January to November last year.

The figure is 9.6 percent lower than the 78,801 deaths recorded during the same period in 2021.

Registered deaths due to COVID with the virus not identified or confirmed in a laboratory test reached 4,703 or 0.8 percent of total fatalities.

The figure is below the 32,798 deaths logged during the same period in 2021.

Meanwhile, the PSA said the top three causes of death in the country from January to November of 2022 were ischemic heart and cerebrovascular diseases as well as neoplasm.

It said that ischemic heart disease continued to top the list of causes of deaths in the Philippines with 103,628 or 18.4 percent of the total.

It was followed by cerebrovascular disease with 57,411 deaths or 10.2 percent of total fatalities.

Neoplasm or cancer came third, which accounted for 57,354 or 10.2 percent of the total deaths.

“The leading causes of death in the same period in 2021 were ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and COVID-19 virus,” the PSA said.

NCR tops COVID-19 deaths

The National Capital Region (NCR) posted the highest number of COVID deaths with 3,916 or 24.4 percent of the total fatalities from January to November 2022.

It was followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with 2,667 deaths, which accounted for 16.6 percent and Central Luzon with 2,221 or 13.8 percent of total COVID deaths.

In a separate report, the PSA said the preliminary number of registered deaths in the country decreased by 31.6 percent to 563,465 in January to November 2022 from 823,227 the previous year.

Calabarzon logged the highest number of registered deaths in the 11-month period with 85,927 or 15.2 percent of the total.

In the NCR, registered deaths decreased by 36.1 percent to 63,054 from 98,684 deaths in 2021.

Quezon City recorded the highest number of registered deaths from January to November 2022 with 12,803 or 20.3 percent of total deaths in the NCR.

Among provinces, Cavite posted highest number of registered deaths from January to November 2022 with 21,843 or 3.9 percent of the total fatalities.