DoH to meet OCTA on data discrepancy

The Department of Health (DoH) on Wednesday said it has yet to meet with OCTA Research members to discuss huge differences in the case fatality rate (CFR) computation for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the National Capital Region.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in an online press briefing, said the DoH has already relayed the concern with the independent research firm but has yet to respond to their queries.

“We have not met with OCTA Research, we tried reaching out to them. We have a Viber group with them where we can exchange (messages). We already sent our question as to how they have computed that and we intend to meet with them with our experts and epidemiologist to have unified messaging, but we have yet to receive an answer,” she said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CFR refers to the proportion of deaths among identified confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Vergeire has explained earlier that the research firm could have possibly used different computation for its CFR which resulted in huge discrepancy.

“In the field of epidemiology, there are sometimes differing opinions, one of these would be the case fatality rate. (They) used different numerator and denominator and that is something we commonly heard from epidemiologists,” she explained.

We intend to meet with them with our experts and epidemiologist to have unified messaging, but we have yet to receive an answer.

She said the DoH will maintain its CFR computation until a meeting with the OCTA Research team has been done.

She also added the 1.46 percent CFR reported by the Health department was based on the guidelines by the WHO, which is the number of deaths over the number of confirmed cases.

“For now, we will stand with our case fatality rate computation, which is really based on the WHO concept until we meet with OCTA and discuss it,” she added.

Earlier, the OCTA Research has said the 5.4 percent CFR recorded in the NCR from 28 March to 13 April, which was almost three times higher than the 1.46 CFR reported by DoH on 16 April, could be attributed to the overwhelmed healthcare system caused by the recent surge in Covid-19 cases as well as the presence of the more lethal and transmissible coronavirus variants in the country.