THE number of additional Covid -19 cases in the Philippines surged to an all-time daily high after more than 15,000 infections were logged on Good Friday, though officials said over 3,000 actually came from the March 31 case tally but were not posted earlier.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire was quick to clarify that the reported 15,310 cases recorded as of 4 p.m. of April 2 do not necessarily show the number of new cases on that day due to some issues “encountered” by the CovidKaya system.
“We have encountered some issues in uploading cases in the system last March 31. We have resolved this issue – and we no longer have backlogs,” Vergeire said.
She added that the 3,709 cases that “were supposed to be reported last March 31, will just be reported today [April 2], as part of the total cases. The total number of infections stood at 771,497.
This means that even without this system issue, the cases are still at 11,601 for April 2.
The Department of Health (DOH) official also appealed to the media to report the incident behind the surge in figures “accurately” so as not to cause “undue panic and despair.” Social media the past several days has been flooded with anxious posts by people who claimed to have experienced, or know people who did, of how infected patients needing hospitalization have been forced to “hop” from one hospital to another as beds get filled up. Officials stress that more than the beds, it’s the acute lack of health workers that prevents them from adding new beds even in makeshift areas, as dozens of doctors and nurses in many hospitals are either on quarantine or ailing with Covid themselves.
“Let’s all work together on this, we will answer all your clarifications here, but let this not be a cause for the public for more panic and fear,” Vergeire appealed on Friday.
The DOH also recorded 434 recoveries and 17 deaths.
Of the total number of cases, 19.9 percent (153,809) are active, 78.3 percent (604,368) have recovered, and 1.73 percent (13,320) have died.
Seven laboratories were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on April 1, 2021.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
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