Department of Health (DOH) revealed Monday that there is at least 6,800 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests lined up for validation.
“Ito pong sinasabi natin na mga backlogs, meron po tayo sa ngayon, we have around 6,800 pa na kailangan pong i-validate natin na atin pong pagtratrabahuhan sa mga susunod na araw para magkaroon na tayo ng at least approximation between unique individuals tested and those confirmed positive for COVID-19,” DOH Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said in an online Palace briefing.
(This is what we call backlogs. As of now, we have around 6,000 tests that we will validate in the coming days so we could have at least approximation between unique individuals tested and those confirmed positive for COVID-19.)
Vergeire, however, clarified that these 6,800 are not added yet to the existing 18,086 COVID-19 cases until they are validated.
“Ito ay hindi pa sigurado. Kapag vinavalidate natin ang mga kaso, ating tinitignan baka may duplication, baka may mga erroneous inputs so babawasin pa rin natin yan,” she explained.
(This is not yet sure. When we are validating cases, we are checking for possible duplication. There could have been erroneous inputs so it could decrease.)
Also read: UP study: DOH not reporting 7,000 additional cases, NCR should maintain MECQ
DOH reveals 6,800 COVID-19 tests for validation
Last week, DOH changed its format of reporting cases and classified it into two. 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.
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.
However, the health department announced earlier that it would no longer report “late cases” of COVID-19 until the remaining testing laboratories complete their line lists starting Monday, June 1.
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.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III urged the remaining 14 laboratories to submit their complete line lists.