Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has credited the country’s below average case fatality rate for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to the efforts of local frontline healthcare workers (HCWs).
Roque, speaking in a virtual press briefing Tuesday, Sept. 21, said the Filipino frontliners have simply been better than their counterparts from other parts of the world.
"Ang pinakaimportante pagdating po sa mortality rate ‘no, number 95 po tayo ‘no dahil 1.55 po tayo. Samantalang ang acceptable po ay—not acceptable ‘no pero iyong tinatawag nilang more or less average is 2.1 worldwide (The most important thing is, when it comes to mortality rate, we're at number 95, because we're at 1.55 percent. Meanwhile, the acceptable--rather, the average more or less is 2.1 percent worldwide)," he said.
"Kung ikukumpara nga po natin sa buong daigdig eh mas kakaunti po ang namamatay. Ibig sabihin mas magaling pong mag-alaga ang ating mga frontliners (Compared to the rest of the world, we have fewer deaths. This means that our frontliners are doing a better job in taking care of patients)," Roque said.
A slide shown during the press briefing indicated that the Philippines was actually ranked no.93 in the world--and not no.95 as claimed by Roque--in terms of case fatality rate for COVID-19.
The Palace spokesman also said that the Philippines was ranked low (no.135 in the world) in cases per 100,000 population, at 2,159.82
"So parang napakababa po kung ikukumpara natin sa worldwide trend iyong ating mga namamatay ‘no. So it says po na bagama’t maraming nagkakasakit, nababawasan naman po natin iyong mga numero ng mga namamatay (So compared to the worldwide trend, our number of deaths is somewhat low. So it says that despite the surge in infections, we've kept the number of deaths low)," he noted.
Known for their sheer industriousness and caring touch, Filipino HCWs have have remained in demand the world over all throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A good chunk of this demand has come from countries in the west that have been hit hard by the health scourge, like the United Kingdom (UK).
Last week, the Philippines breached the 36,000-mark in terms of fatalities from COVID-19. This prompted President Duterte to give some health safety reminders for Filipinos..