For his part, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that Filipino healthcare workers are capable enough to take care of COVID-19 patients, which is also factor in low number of deaths.
“If we are talking about the number of cases, ito na yung pinakamadaming cases (this is already the most cases we have) because of the inherent transmissibility of Delta,” Dr. Edsel Salvana said Tuesday in a Palace briefing.
“Pero dumoble ba yung deaths? Actually, hindi. It is just slightly above the deaths per day na nakita natin noong April,” he added.
[Translation: But did the number of deaths double? Actually, no. It is just slightly above the deaths per day that we saw last April.]
The Department of Health on Monday said COVID-19 deaths in the country reached an all-time high in August – with an average of 155 daily. This is higher than the average daily deaths of 135 last April.
Amid the rising COVID-19 cases, Salvana said vaccination has helped in making the Delta variant less fatal.
“Even though expected natin na mas deadly nga ang Delta, hindi ‘yun ang nangyari. The only thing contributing to that most likely is yung pagbabakuna natin ng maraming tao,” he said.
[Translation: Even though we expected Delta to be deadlier, that’s not what happened. The only thing contributing to that most likely is the vaccination of many people.]
He also emphasized that the currently available vaccine brands remain effective against COVID-19.
“Kaya po dumadami ang ating breakthrough infection ay dahil sa Delta, hindi dahil sa nagwe-wane yung immunity or hindi na gumagana yung vaccines. Pero nananatili po na mataas na mataas yung effectiveness ng lahat ng vaccines natin against severe disease, against hospitalization, and against death,” Salvana said.
[Translation: We’ve had may breakthrough infections because of Delta, not because of waning immunity, or because our vaccines are becoming less effective. Our vaccines’ efficacy remains high against severe disease, against hospitalization, and against death.]
As of Tuesday, the country has recorded 2,401,916 COVID-19 cases. Among the 171,142 active cases, at least 92.4% are experiencing mild symptoms, 2.8% are asymptomatic, 0.6% are critical, 1.4% have severe symptoms, and 2.69% are in moderate condition.
The death toll is currently at 37,074.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 21) — Despite the surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, an infectious disease expert said the nationwide death toll did not double.
“Bagamat maraming nagkakasakit, nababawasan naman po natin yung numero ng mga namamatay…Pero kung ikukumpara natin sa buong daigdig, mas kakaunti ang namamatay, ibig sabihin mas magaling magalaga ang ating mga frontliners,” said Roque.
[Translation: Although many are getting sick, we were able to lessen the number of deaths…But if we will compare to other parts of the world, we only have a few deaths, this means that our frontliners are better at caring for patients ]
