The Philippines has climbed to the 18th rank among countries with the highest number of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the world based on the report of John Hopkins University.
The United States of America and India are sharing the number one spot with more than 7 million COVID-19 cases, followed by Brazil with more than 5 million cases, then Russia with over 1.2 million cases, and Colombia with over 900,000 cases.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reminded to be careful in interpreting such data.
“You have to look at it from a comprehensive perspective, what capacity do we have? How good are we on reporting? And what is the population rate of infection we are seeing?” WHO Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe has pointed out.
The Department of Health (DOH) has also clarified that the ranking is based on cumulative cases. Although the number of recoveries and fatalities have not yet been deducted, “82% po riyan naka-recover na. Mayroon po tayo sa ngayon na 1.8% na mga namatay. So ang active cases is about 15 percent. Ibig sabihin 15 percent of the total number of cases, ‘yun na lang po yung binabantayan natin sa ngayon. (82% of [the cases] have recovered. We currently have a death rate of 1.8%. So our active cases are about 15%, meaning 15% of the total number of cases is now under monitoring).”
Meanwhile, the DOH has released the guidelines on having good ventilation to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Habang wala pa pong conclusive na evidence ng airborne transmission, nirerekomenda na ho ng DOH na tayo ay maniguro para sigurado na may sapat na ventilation ang mga enclosed spaces katulad sa ating mga workplaces, sa mga comfort rooms at sa mga sasakyan (While there is no conclusive evidence on airborne transmission, the DOH recommends that we must make sure that enclosed spaces have enough ventilation such as workplaces, comfort rooms, and cars).” – Report from Mark Fetalco
