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While we could have started the year with a clean slate and good news, we started it off with the baggage from the previous year.
BENJAMIN CO, MD | 01 January 2021
All local data is information downloaded from the Philippine Department of Health Data Drop. The author is not the owner of any information except the analysis of all data. Global data is correctly referenced in Worldometers.info, Ourworldindata.org (European CDC), World Health Organization (who.int) and the New York Times. Where appropriate, additional information may be extracted from other references or health agencies, indicating the references.
It is a new year. And as the new beginnings progress, this one is tough. But beginnings allow us to start from scratch.
The year 2020 ended on a high note, with the launch of vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2. While the pandemic changed lives, economies and healthcare systems, the ability of science to implement vaccines at breakneck speed is the main story of 2020.
But while we could have started the year with a clean slate and good news, we started it with the baggage from the previous year, as those stats are still included in our total cases. There is also the increasing trend in daily positive rates, which may be an indication that we are not testing enough because people are on vacation. And we’ll have to wait until January 4, when people get back to work, to see the actual representative numbers.
That said, the DoH reports 1,765 new cases today, the highest in a week. The low numbers during the holiday season are attributable to the lower testing capacity in the country, as evidenced by the higher positive rates among people who were tested. (Note that out of just 10,710 individuals tested, 769 tested positive, for a positive rate of 7.2 percent. This will mean fewer cases in tomorrow’s Department of Health report, which may not reflect actual cases in Philippines).
Three cities are in the top five: Davao City, Quezon City, and City of Manila. The remaining two are provinces of the VAT Region: Rizal and Cavite.
Philippines (December 31, 2020)
- Mega Manila collected 36 percent of the total cases by New Year’s Eve with 554 new cases.
- 13 of the 17 cities in NCR were among the top 20 cities / townships for the day.
- Two other regions reported triple digits: CALABARZON and Central Luzon.
- Four provinces of the IVA Region remained among the top 10 provinces: Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas.
The World (December 31, 2020)
- As the world approaches a total of 84 million cases, the fatality rate remains at 2.18 percent with our 1.825 million deaths at the end of the year.
- The United States and India together already account for 36.6 percent of all cases in the world.
