The DOH also posted a positivity rate of 19.9% out of 39,775 individuals tested, based on data as of noon of March 30. The positivity rate is the percentage of patients that tested positive out of the total number of tests conducted in a day. Experts say a bigger percentage suggests higher viral transmission within the community, and the need to increase testing capacity.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31) — The country reported its lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in eight days at 6,128 on Wednesday, but the Department of Health said the count does not yet include data from several testing laboratories.
“The numbers are relatively lower today due to a number of laboratory line lists uploaded via [Covid-19 Data Repository System] that were not pushed to COVIDKaya,” the DOH said in its case bulletin, referring to the app that manages COVID-19 data. “The [Department of Information and Communications Technology] is investigating the issue.”
The agency added that six laboratories were also not able to send their data to the repository system in the first place. The COVID-19 Data Repository System or CDRS is where hospitals upload their case reports. It is linked to COVIDKaya, which is the surveillance app for all data on COVID-19. The app stores information such as confirmed cases and traced contacts.
The bulletin said the total number of infections is 747,288 with 17.4% or 130,245 active cases — a new all-time high —breaking Tuesday’s record of over 124,000 currently ill patients. At least 95.8% of the active cases have mild symptoms, 2.6% have no symptoms, 0.6% are in critical condition, 0.6% are severe cases, and 0.38% are in moderate condition.
Meanwhile, the death toll climbed to 13,297 which is 1.78% of the case total after 106 more people died. It is the highest daily casualty count after February 20, when there were 239 fatalities. The department said 47 of the new deaths were added to the count after validation showed they were mistakenly reported as survivors in the previous report.
The recovery count also rose to 603,746 or 80.8% of the COVID-19 tally. The DOH said it also removed 21 duplicates including eight recoveries.
The department’s COVID-19 tracker also updated the March 29 positivity rate at 20.9%, saying 8,199 tested positive out of 39,196 people tested. The figure falls just a few points below the all-time high rate on April 4 at 23.8%. But during that time, only 2,407 people were tested, where 547 were found to have the virus.
Among overseas Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported a surge of 246 new infections, bringing the total to 16,394 in 90 countries. Of this total, 3,888 cases have been verified by the DOH, the DFA said. Meanwhile, 257 others got better and another Filipino died, raising the survivor count to 10,048 and the death toll to 1,049. There are also 5,297 persons undergoing treatment.
