Covid still one major cause of deaths in PHL–PSA data

TWO years on, Covid-19 remains one of the major causes of mortality in the country based on the first quarter data on deaths released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Registered deaths due to Covid-19 accounted for a total of 6,770 deaths, or 7 percent of the total registered deaths from January to March 2022.

Covid-19 with virus identified was the 6th-leading cause of death in the country with 5,031 cases or 5.2 percent of the total deaths while Covid-19 with virus not identified accounted for 1,739 or 1.8 percent of the total deaths, making it the 12th leading cause of death

“By classification, Covid-19 with virus identified and Covid-19 virus not identified were both included in the 15 leading causes of death,” the PSA said.

Based on the data, out of the 6,770 deaths due to Covid-19, 28.3 percent or 1,917 cases were recorded in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the January to March period.

Of this number, 22.5 percent or 432 Covid deaths were recorded in Quezon City while 16.7 percent or 321 deaths were in the City of Manila in the first three months of the year.

This was followed by Caloocan, Pasig, and Las Piñas which recorded 174 deaths or 9.1 percent of the total; 161 or 8.4 percent; and, 99 or 5.2 percent of the total Covid deaths in NCR in the first quarter, respectively.

Apart from NCR, other regions nationwide that recorded the highest Covid deaths included Calabarzon with 1,138 deaths or 16.8 percent of the total Covid deaths recorded in the first three months of the year.

This was followed by Central Luzon with 948 deaths or 14 percent of the total; Western Visayas, 450 deaths or 6.6 percent of the total; and Cagayan Valley, 410 deaths or 6.1 percent of the total Covid-deaths in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the top three causes of death in the country from January to March of 2022 were ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and neoplasms.

“These were also the leading causes of death in the same period in 2021,” PSA said.

From January to March of 2022, ischemic heart diseases were the leading cause of death with 18,601 cases or 19.2 percent of the total deaths in the country.

Meanwhile, cerebrovascular diseases came in second with 10,044 deaths or 10.4 percent share of all causes of death in the first quarter of the year.

Neoplasms, commonly-known as “cancer,” were the third leading causes which accounted for 8,926 recorded cases or 9.2 percent of deaths from January to March 2022.

Deaths due to diabetes mellitus recorded 6,151 cases or 6.3 percent share, making it the fourth leading cause of death, while deaths due to hypertensive diseases, which ranked fifth recorded 5,642 cases or 5.8 percent share.

Last week, the Department of Health (DOH) on Friday reported that national and all regions in the country have registered continued rise in new Covid-19 infections in recent weeks with 88 percent of provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCS), and independent component cities (ICCS) across all island groups showing an upward growth in cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire, however, stated in a report to the media on the Covid situation in the country as of July 1, these increases have “not” translated to increases in other metrics as average daily attack rates and hospital utilization rates remain at low risk in majority of these areas.

For June 25 to July 1, the DOH said that there are 6,399 new Covid cases, placing to 3,705,649 the total number of cases in the country as of July 1.