DOH says nothing is certain yet on flattening of curve on COVID-19 cases

August 24, 2020

The Department of Health admitted on Monday that there is nothing certain yet if there will be flattening of the curve on coronavirus cases towards September.

In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH will continue to monitor COVID-19 cases and urge people to observe  minimum health standards to attain the forecast of the University of the Philippines-OCTA Research team that the Philippines could flatten the curve by next month.

"Nothing is certain at this point in time," she said.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, in the same briefing, said the Palace is also waiting for the end of the month to find out if the government would record lower COVID-19 cases than that of the UP projection.

"If I'm not mistaken, their forecast is 250,000. We will reserve whether or not we will congratulate the Filipino people anew or better luck next time," he said.

Vergeire noted that when the government imposed a two-week modified enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal until August 18, the purpose was not really to immediately bring down the number of cases or decongest the hospitals.

"This was really giving our healthcare workers that reprieve or breather that they were asking for," she said.

But Vergeire added that during the two-week period, the government was able to recalibrate its strategies and started implementing them.

Vergeire cited the effort of the government to increase the capacity of health facilities and  established the One Command Hospital which has been helping the public to access hospitals.

"As to the number of cases, we are still trying to monitor this trend because as I’ve said, these two weeks would not really give us that immediate, the decrease in the number of cases. We like to monitor it longer so that we can give this accurate information for everybody," she said.

As of August 24, the Philippines has recorded 194,252 COVID-19 cases with 132,042 recoveries and 3,010 deaths. Celerina Monte/DMS