COVID-19 death rate slows down
PH coronavirus disease cases continue to rise
The Department of Health (DOH) said that the country's case fatality rate is decreasing despite the continued rise in the number of coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) cases.
“For now...we can see that the deaths here in the country are slowly going down. It is really decreasing. We have only 2.9 percent case fatality rate compared to when we started when it was more than 10 percent,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a television interview on Tuesday, July 7.
Vergeire noted that they observed “great improvement in how cases are being managed.”
“We are seeing lesser deaths because we can see that clinicians now already have that much evidence and different information for them to be able to manage and support patients who are severe and critical and are being admitted in our hospitals. Also, we have to highlight the fact that most of our cases are mild cases,” she said.
The Philippines has a total of 46,333 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,303 deaths and 12,185 recoveries as of July 6.
She said that the public should be more “cautious” since the transmission of the virus in communities is evident.
“These numbers that we are having right now should make people more cautious. This is not just because we are testing more but because there are really cases, there (is) really (a) clustering of cases that we have been identifying for these past days and also there is really community transmission,” said Vergeire.
“We are monitoring the different clustering of cases across the different areas of the country and also we are trying to identify these areas that would require strict monitoring,” she added.
The health official, in a press briefing last Monday, July 6, reported that they are observing clustering of cases in 314 barangays in Metro Manila and 64 barangays in Cebu City.
‘Airborne transmission’
In a related development, Vergeire
said that there is still not enough evidence to say that the virus causing the COVID-19 can be transmitted through airborne particles.
“First we do not still have strong evidence or enough evidence to really say that the COVID is airborne. So we are still working on that concept that COVID-19 is transmitted via droplet infection,” she said.
“We are studying all of these articles that are coming out everyday and still there is not enough evidence at this moment to specifically say that this is already airborne,” she added.
Vergeire said that there are a “lot of ways (by) which a person can be infected” with the dreaded disease.
“Sometimes even though you wear your mask, even though you wash your hands – there might be times that you might miss out on being cautious and you will be able to get this – touching surfaces or you might not be doing this appropriate physical distancing,” said Vergeire.
“There are a lot of ways because there is community transmission. That's why, we all have to be cautious.
We have to be responsible also – that we will be preventing transmission by doing specific measures that the government is asking for each and every person to do,” she added.
Quarantine, health protocol violations Meanwhile, administration Rep. Niña Taduran of ACT-CIS Partylist urged the government on Tuesday to padlock establishments found violating rules covering the community quarantine.
She likewise called on the Department of the Interior and Local Government to hold accountable barangay officials who fail to stop constituents from observing the mandatory wearing of masks and social distancing protocols.
Taduran, an assistant majority leader in the Lower House, said law enforcement units of government should be stricter in enforcing community quarantine rules amid the continued spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.
She disclosed having received numerous
complaints from concerned citizens who point to gambling establishments that are found to be operating private rooms to accommodate patrons.
Taduran particularly received a letter of complaint from the family of an 80-year-old woman who would escape along with her senior citizen friends to go to a casino.
“I received verified information that a casino in Metro Manila has been receiving customers, mostly senior citizens, despite the order to remain closed under the general community quarantine. These customers are touching chips and cards and slot machines, unmindful of the probabilty of catching COVID-19,” she said.
“They won’t be there exposing themselves to the risk of the virus if the gambling establishment is not open,” the partylist solon explained.
Taduran was said social distancing and face mask rules are openly being violated in several urban poor communities in Quezon City and other areas in Metro Manila. (With a report from Ben R. Rosario)