About 91.5 percent of the total active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines are either asymptomatic or simply exhibit mild symptoms, the probable reason the country has huge number of recoveries.
National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. stressed this Tuesday night when President Duterte inquired why the Philippines has many patients who recovered from COVID-19. Galvez told President Duterte this in a meeting that aired Tuesday.
"Secretary, I know this is not your main line but bakit maraming recoveries ang Pilipinas vis-a-vis with other countries? (Secretary, I know this is not your main line but why does the Philippines have many recoveries vis-a-vis with other countries?)" Duterte asked Galvez.
"Sir, marami po sa atin, sir asymptomatic po, sir, at saka, sir, mild cases (Sir, most of our cases are asymptomatic and mild)," Galvez responded.
He then presented a graph to Duterte which he said showed that out of the total 55,236 active cases in the country, around 50,000 are mild or asymptomatic.
It was not clear if the data presented by Galvez was up to date but according to a report from the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippines recorded 194,252 COVID-19 cases as of Monday.
Of these, 59,200 were tagged as active cases where 91.5 percent were considered mild, 6.1 percent asymptomatic, 1.4 percent critical, and one percent severe.
Meanwhile, there were also 132,042 recoveries and 3,010 deaths.
Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific regional director Takeshi Kasai lauded the country's efforts in improving its health care system to curb the spread of the viral disease.
Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO representative to the Philippines, told the Filipino people not to be discouraged by the high number of COVID-19 cases since the country has one of the lowest proportion of fatalities in Southeast Asia.
He said among the factors that contributed to this was the increase in the number of health care facilities, and the establishment of testing laboratories and isolation centers around the country.