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The Department of Health (DOH) believes it has seen “improvements” in the fight against Covid-19.
This, despite the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that revealed that 57 percent or at least six in 10 Filipino adults believe that “the worst is yet to come” amid the pandemic.
“We remain committed to improving our response and mitigation strategies as we learn more about the virus,” DOH said Friday after the total number of Covid-19 cases rose to 279,526 after 3,257 newly confirmed cases were recorded. .
Of the total number of confirmed cases, 65,906 (23.6 percent) are active cases, 208,790 (74.7 percent) have recovered, and 4,830 (1.7 percent) have died.
The SWS survey result from July 3-6 is higher compared to 47 percent last May when asked the same question.
The DOH reiterated: “We are all fighting an invisible enemy and unless a vaccine has been made available or even then, nothing is certain.”
The only sure thing, the DOH said, is that people will be protected if minimum standards of health are practiced.
Upgrades
The DOH said they saw improvements in the number from Aug. 17 compared to Sept. 17.
For the case doubling time of 9.52 days on August 17, it improved to 10.84 days on September 17
“Case doubling time is a measure of the speed of the outbreak. So we want a longer doubling time or slower sprout spread. As of September 17, 2020, the case duplication time is 10.84 days. This is a little better compared to the CDT of August 17, which was 9.52 days, “said DOH.
The doubling time to mortality (MDT) has also improved.
“The same logic can be applied to the doubling time of mortality. We want a longer MDT, which means a slower increase in the number of deaths. As of September 17, 2020, the doubling time for mortality is 15.54, which is better compared to the DTM of 13.96 days on August 17.
Regarding the utilization rate among temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) as of September 17, the national intensive care utilization rate (CCU) is 45 percent compared to last August 17, which was 49 percent.
The CCU rate is the percentage of intensive care resources that are being used or occupied at any one time. It measures 3 hospital resources separately namely: mechanical ventilators, intensive care unit beds and isolation beds.
“This improvement may have been the result of One Hospital Command (at NCR) and hospitals’ efforts to increase their bed capacity for Covid-19.”
There is an increase in the utilization rate of TTMF facilities from 33 percent last August 17 to 38 percent this September 17. This can be due to several factors such as:
1) Increase in the number of mild and asymptomatic cases that are taken to TTMF; and
2) Increase in the number of referrals from L1-3 hospitals (applicable to mild and asymptomatic cases) or decrease.
Meanwhile, the reproduction number or Rt indicates the possible number of people infected by a sick person, at a specific time with control measures in place.
“The goal is for Rt to be less than 1 and maintain it, which would mean that, on average, an infected person is infecting less than one person, ultimately stopping the transmission of Covid-19. “
As of September 2, the Rt is 0.953 (report date September 17). The Rt is measured using the onset of symptoms, this does not include in the interpretation the last 14 to 16 days given the time between symptoms, health search, tests and reports.
The DOH noted that when interpreting Rt, “keep in mind that it is a lagging indicator, that is, it provides a snapshot of the situation two weeks ago.”
The number does not change daily, he said.
“This is a good indicator, since it means that 1 patient with Covid-19 infects almost 1 person. We want to maintain this value by continuing with the minimum health standards ”.
“While we have seen improvements in our numbers, the battle is not over [the fight is not yet over]. We want the public to be complacent and think that
everything is fine. Cause when we get complacent, we get sloppy [Because if we become complacent, we care less]”Said the DOH.
