The Department of Health (DOH) said that starting Monday, June 1, it would no longer report “late cases” of COVID-19 until the remaining testing laboratories complete their line lists.
DOH said it already cleared all case validation backlogs from 27 laboratories that submitted a complete line list and one facility that provided a partial line list.
Forty-two licensed COVID-19 testing facilities are operating nationwide.
“The surge of ‘late’ cases is attributed to the [DOH Epidemiology Bureau’s] aggressive validation of recently-submitted line lists. Each line list contains all test results conducted since the beginning of the laboratory’s operation. The validation process eliminates possible duplication… while also ensuring that all test results have been transmitted to DOH,” the health department said.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III urged the remaining 14 laboratories to submit their complete line lists.
“Starting June 1, no more late cases will be reported until the remaining operational laboratories submit their complete line lists,” the department said.
“These line lists are necessary for the government to provide accurate and timely information not only to our policymakers but also to the public,” Duque added.
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Vice President Robredo earlier questioned the logic behind DOH’s new format of reporting, which is divided into two categories. The “fresh” cases are those whose test results were released to the patient within three days from reporting time, and “late” cases or results released four days ago or more.
“Hindi ko alam kung ano iyong logic doon sa pagbigay ng classification… Nakakalito kung bakit kailangan iyong ganito. Dapat kapag first time nire-report parati iyong ‘fresh’ e,” Robredo said in her weekly radio show.
(I don’t know what’s the logic behind that new classification. It’s confusing. Those that are reported for the first should always be “fresh” cases.)
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire meanwhile explained that the new method of reporting is to prevent stoking fear when DOH reports a high number of cases in one day due to the clearing of backlogs.
DOH reported 16 fresh and 846 late cases bringing the Philippines total number of COVID-19 cases to 18,086 with 3,909 recoveries and 957 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.