‘Philippines ranks lowest on COVID-19 deaths among select countries’

MANILA, Philippines, November 23 ------ The Philippines has the lowest number of deaths from COVID-19 compared to eight other mostly wealthy countries that have the highest number of cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday. Citing the “Our World In Data” report, Duque noted the Philippines ranked lowest for mortality related to COVID-19 compared to the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, France and Germany.

The data compared the number of deaths from Jan. 5, 2020 up to March 31, 2021. According to Duque, the Philippines’ low mortality could be attributed to the country’s COVID-19 response. “A much improved prevent, detect, isolate, treat, reintegrate and lately, improving vaccination rate especially in the National Capital Region… Also, the early detection to isolation efforts of our local government units contribute to the low morbidity,” he told The STAR.

Duque had credited health care workers for the “improved clinical care management” of COVID-19 patients. He added that the “good Living Clinical Practice Guidelines has guided our physicians in the use of life-saving meds such as Dexamethasone Tocilizumab and Remdesivir and (leading to) better detection outcomes.”

Unvaccinated deaths

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported yesterday that there were 216,074 COVID-19 patients in health facilities from March 1 to Nov. 14 this year. Of this, she said 86 percent were not fully vaccinated. “Based on hospital discharged COVID-19 patient data… deaths and serious outcomes are more likely to happen among unvaccinated,” she claimed.

Severe and critical cases were 1.75 times more likely to occur among the unvaccinated, compared to those fully vaccinated. “Death was 2.6 times more likely to occur among unvaccinated than those fully vaccinated individuals,” Vergeire added. The Department of Health (DOH) is hopeful that the Philippines will not go the way of some European countries that saw spikes in COVID-19 cases after loosening up restrictions.

Vergeire said a number of countries in Europe have been reporting an increase in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. But she noted the DOH remains hopeful that cases in the country will not soar despite the relaxed restrictions under the alert level system. “While we keep a close eye on COVID-19 trends in our country, it is also important to stay up to date with what is happening in other countries… Hopefully, that will not happen to us,” she added. According to Vergeire, Europe has had a steep rise in the number of cases recently. At the country level, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands have the steepest increase in cases. “Cases in these countries have reached new peaks since the beginning of the pandemic,” she said.

Source: philstar.com