THE Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday, April 21, reported slower increases in the number of confirmed coronavirus infections and mortalities in the country.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, additional confirmed cases reached 140, lower than the 200 additional cases reported on Monday.
The new cases brought the total caseload in the Philippines to 6,559.
The DOH also reported nine mortalities in the last 24 hours, lower than the 19 reported on Monday. The death toll was 437 as of Tuesday.
An additional 41 patients recovered from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the infection caused by the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2.
Total recoveries reached 654 as of Tuesday.
In a virtual press conference, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said doubling time, or the period required for cases to double, has slowed from three days to almost five days.
“Ibig sabihin nito, kung dati-rati, sa loob ng tatlong araw dumodoble ang mga kaso, ngayon mas matagal na ito. Halos limang raw na ang average. Ito ay malaking improvement. Pero syempre, mas gusto natin na mahigit sa tatlumpung araw ang doubling time,” Vergeire said.
(This means that cases now double in almost five days from the previous three days. This is a big improvement. But our target is a doubling time of more than 30 days.)
This means further that if the DOH logged 6,000 cases on April 20, there should only be 12,000 cases by May 20, 2020, Vergeire said.
Vergeire also noted the most of the cases are still confined within the National Capital Region.
She said there are around 30 provinces that have either reported zero case of infection or slow growth in confirmed cases.
She said, however, that these two bits of good news are not permanent and the people should not be complacent.
“Nakita natin sa ibang bansa na talagang pwedeng maging taksil o traydor ang coronavirus na kinakalaban natin sa ngayon. Sa panahong akala mo na natalo mo na sya, bigla syang magbabalik at maghahasik ng lagim lalo na kung nakalimutan na ng mga tao ang physical distancing, paghugas ng kamay, pag-ubo ng tama at ng paglinis ng mga surfaces na palaging nahahawakan,” Vergeire said.
(We have seen in other countries how treacherous this coronavirus is. Just when you think you have defeated the virus, it comes back and wreaks havoc again especially if the people forget to practice physical distancing, washing of hands, proper cough etiquette and disinfection of frequently touched surfaces.)
Globally, Covid-19 has killed 157,847 people out of the 2.3 million infected with the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2, as of April 20, the World Health Organization said. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)