Health Secretary Francisco Duque III received no rebuke from President Duterte over his erroneous statement that the country has supposedly flattened the curve of the coronavirus outbreak, Malacañang said Thursday.

"Wala pong pagsabon na nangyari (There was no scolding that happened)," Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said during a televised press briefing.

Duque earlier claimed the country has “successfully” flattened the pandemic curve last April after attaining a longer case doubling rate and moderate mortality rate. The country's health chief, however, recanted his statement, saying the country merely "bent" the curve. He recognized that the country’s cases have increased due to expanded testing efforts and easing of quarantine restrictions.

Duque was among the Cabinet members present in the meeting with President Duterte on the government's efforts to contain the pandemic Wednesday night.

Roque said Duque had admitted his mistake and made the correction about his statement.

"Matapos nangyari iyan, tumawag kaagad sa akin si Secretary Duque ‘no at sinabi nga niya na parang mali iyong salitang nagamit niya. Sabi ko, korekin lang natin (After the incident, Secretary Duque immediately called me and told me he used the wrong word. I told him that let's just correct it)," he said.

"Eh sino ba naman sa media ang magsasabing hindi sila nagkakamali ‘no. So kinorek lang po, hindi naman po na-flatten, nabali at ang ibig sabihin niya, mukha talagang kumonti ang kaso matapos tayong magkaroon ng ECQ at MECQ  (Who in the media would say they don't make a mistake. So it was just corrected. It was not flattened, it was bent. He meant that the the cases became fewer after the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) and MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine)," he said.

As of July 15, the country has recorded 58,850 cases of coronavirus with 1,614 deaths.