Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 2) — The Department of Health said it expects to receive the complete COVID-19 case data from four remaining laboratories on Thursday, which it needs to clear its reports backlog.
“Kapag dumating na ang kumpletong line list na ‘to mula sa natitirang apat na laboratoryo, mavavalidate na natin ang lahat na natitirang kaso at mauubos na natin ang cases for validation na hindi pa naipapasok sa ating official count,” said Health Spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire during the agency’s regular briefing online on Tuesday.
[Translation: When the complete line lists arrive from the remaining four laboratories, we can validate all of the remaining lists and we will finish all cases for validation that were not included in our official count.]
Vergeire said 38 out of the 42 accredited laboratories in the country have submitted on Monday their full line lists which consist of all COVID-19 tests done since the facilities started operating. The arrival of these lists led to an increase in the number of “late” cases or infections whose results were released to the patients at least four days ago.
The agency recently changed its COVID-19 reporting format by separating late cases from “fresh” cases whose results were released to patients within the last three days.
The DOH said it expects to report only fresh cases after it clears its backlog and if laboratories send their daily accomplishment reports on time. The accomplishment reports detail all the tests the facility has given in a day.
DOH noted that 38 laboratories also submitted on time on Monday which the agency said is a significant improvement in the facilities’ submission rate, since there were only 15 laboratories that were on time on just the previous day.
“Kapag ang lahat ng laboratoryo natin ay nagpapasa on time ng kanilang daily accomplishment reports, wala po tayong maiiwang backlogs for validation at ibig sabihin ay fresh cases na lamang po ang ating irereport,” said Vergeire.
[Translation: If all of our laboratories pass their daily accomplishment reports on time, we won’t have remaining backlogs for validation and this means we will only report fresh cases.]
“Kapag nangyari ito masasabi natin na mas accurate na ang sitwasyon na nakikita kada araw base sa mga bagong kasong papasok dito sa ating case bulletin,” she added.
[Translation: If this happens, we can say that we are seeing a more accurate situation each day based on the new cases appearing in our case bulletin.]
The country COVID-19 total is now approaching 19,000 after 359 more cases were reported — 189 of which were late cases while 176 were fresh. More than 4,000 people have now recovered from the disease while 966 have died from it.
