The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday, April 27, said it will not, in any way, manipulate the country’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) data.
In a statement, the Health department said it recognizes the value of having a data-driven COVID-19 response, that's why they strive to provide a "more accurate and near real-time data."
The DOH has implemented a daily time-based tagging of recoveries since April 19 to more accurately and timely reflect outcomes of cases.
The DOH explained that only mild or asymptomatic cases which have more than 10 days since the date of onset of illness for mild cases, and the date of specimen collection for asymptomatic cases, will be tagged as recoveries, "provided that their health statuses did not progress over the 10-day period."
"Additionally, the cases to be tagged as recoveries are endorsed daily to the concerned Epidemiology and Surveillance Units (ESUs) the day prior to being tagged as recoveries in order for ESUs to validate the statuses of the cases," it said.
The DOH also addressed recent concerns regarding the integrity of the data on recoveries, citing that in many of the cases reported, most have a lead time of seven days or less from the onset of symptoms to the date when the cases are reported, due to various factors such as the time between onset of symptoms and testing, and the turnaround time of RT-PCR results, among others.
"This means that there is a delay from when the case got infected, showed symptoms, got tested, and turned out positive to the date the case was reported."