THE Department of Health (DOH) on Friday reported zero Covid-19 deaths, but cases in the country rose to
1,537,097 after 6,845 additional cases were logged.
However, the DOH was quick to clarify that the reported “zero” death figure may be “due to the current issues with COVIDKaya,” a digital platform for Covid-19 information management being used by the agency.
“This is currently being investigated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and a resolution is expected in the next few days. Rest assured that the DOH is exerting all efforts to update the cases as soon as possible,” DOH assured the public.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, meanwhile, said the NCR (National Capital Region) Plus and Visayas are showing an increase in cases, while the rest of Luzon is plateauing and a slight increase in cases was seen in Mindanao the recent week.
Vergeire said that for NCR, the increase in cases was noted during the recent week with an additional 179 cases compared to the previous week.
The average daily reported cases: July 16-22: 797; July 9-15: 618; July 2-8: 637; June 25 – July 1: 683; and Peak (March 29-April 4): 5,534.
Vergeire also said that all provinces are showing an increase in cases in Plus areas. The province of Cavite and Bulacan have the fastest rise.
For Luzon, there is an upward trend observed in Regions 2, 3, and 4A, while a downward trend is seen in Regions 5. Regions 1, 4B, and Cordillera Autonomous Region are showing a plateauing trend in cases.
A steep rise in cases was observed in Region 7, while the decline slowed in Region 8. The case trend in Region 6 is plateauing.
In Mindanao, Region 10 is showing fast increase in cases, Caraga and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are also showing increase in cases. Regions 9 and 11 are exhibiting continuous downward trend in cases, while case trend in Region 12 is plateauing.
Friday recorded cases
The DOH also reported 2,330 recoveries recorded on Friday.
Of the total number of infections, 3.6 percent (55,069) active cases, 94.7 percent (1,455,137) have recovered, and 1.75 percent (26,891) has died.
Eleven duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, six are recoveries.
In addition, three cases were found to have tested negative and have been removed from the total case count.
All laboratories were operational on July 21, 2021, but two were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.
Based on data in the last 14 days, the two non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 0.4 percent of samples tested and 1.2 percent of positive individuals.
The DOH said that they have been encountering technical issues in COVIDKaya for three days in a row, and that manual solution was implemented as a contingency measure.
“Cases reported today [July 23] may not have up-to-date data entries in certain fields (e.g. health status, residence, quarantine status),” DOH said.