Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 21) — The Department of Health has changed the way it reports the number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 so the daily recovery tally is unusually high starting this week.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Wednesday said they have shifted to “daily time-based” tagging of recoveries instead of the usual reporting of mass recoveries on Sundays dubbed Oplan Recovery.
She said the change follows Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s order to ensure accuracy of data.
“Parang nase-skew ang numbers natin because this is a one-time uploading every seven days. Nase-skew ang analysis natin,” Vergeire told a media briefing.
[Translation: It looks like our numbers are skewed because of this one-time uploading. Our analysis is getting skewed.]
The DOH reported over 21,600 recoveries on Tuesday and 9,266 on Monday.
Vergeire assured the public they are reviewing the data to make sure that tagged recoveries have truly recuperated.
Those who are mildly ill are being tagged as recovered 14 days from the onset of symptoms, while asymptomatic cases are considered recovered two weeks after their specimens were collected for testing.
Oplan Recovery was heavily criticized by lawmakers in July 2020 as they said it further casts doubt on the DOH’s reporting system.
