COVID infections continue to fall amid report delays
THE WESTERN Pacific Region, which includes the Philippines, posted an 89% decline in coronavirus infections on Jan. 30 to Feb. 26 amid delays in reporting and a decline in testing output in many countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Deaths also fell by 84%, the WHO said in a reported posted on its website.
Globally, cases fell by 76% to 4.8 million cases during the period from the previous 28 days, it said. Deaths fell by 66% to about 39,000.
“Current trends in reported COVID-19 cases are underestimates of the true number of global infections and reinfections as shown by prevalence surveys,” WHO said. “This is partly due to the reductions in testing and delays in reporting in many countries.”
As of Feb. 26, more than 758 million confirmed cases and more than 6.8 million deaths have been reported globally, it said.
Latest Data “may be incomplete and should, therefore, be interpreted with caution.” “Additionally, data from previous weeks are continuously updated to incorporate retrospective changes in reported COVID-19 cases and deaths made by countries.”
WHO had been calling on countries to boost surveillance and sequencing “so that as the virus evolves, vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics can be evaluated and updated quickly as needed.”
The Philippines posted 832 infections on Feb. 20 to 26, according to a Department of Health report.
This brought its daily average to 119 infections, or. 7% decline from a week earlier. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
