The Department of Health (DOH) said that Covid-19 is the 11th cause of death in the country based on figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Covid-19 placed 11 in the PSA’s latest data on the 20 leading causes of death as of Oct. 31, 2022.
The PSA logged 13,883 deaths due to Covid-19, or 3.3 percent of the total registered deaths from January to September 2022.
During the peak of the pandemic, Covid-19 was consistently in the top 10 leading cases of deaths.
“Ito ay isang magandang balita para sa’tin kasi noong mga nakaraang taon, especially in 2021, talagang nakita natin na ang Covid-19 deaths ay naging no. 3 cause of death dito sa ating bansa, ibig sabihin pag napupunta sa top 10 leading cause of death marami ang namamatay dahil sa sakit na yan,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a media forum.
“Pero ngayon, nakita natin na itong Covid deaths ay bumaba na, naging pang-11 na lang siya and that signifies na kakaunti na lang ang namamatay from Covid-19 sa ating bansa, and we are able to prevent already further deaths because of this disease,” she added.
Vergeire said that the top five leading causes of death in the country are non-communicable diseases, just like before Covid-19.
According to PSA’s latest data, heart diseases topped the list with a total of 77,173 deaths or 18.5 percent, followed by cerebrovascular diseases with 42,890, or 10.3 percent of the total.
In third place are neoplasms, more known as “cancer,” with 42,497 recorded cases or 10.2 percent, then diabetes with 27,774 or 6.4 percent, and hypertensive diseases at 23,971 or 5.7 percent.
“So ito pong top five leading causes of death ay all non-communicable diseases kaya po tayo ngayon very strong po ang programa ng kagawaran ng kalusugan sa ating healthy behaviors and healthy lifestyle para maturuan natin ang ating mga kababayan para maprevent and ma-avoid yung mga ganitong klaseng preventable naman na pwedeng ikamatay ng ating mga kababayan,” said Vergeire.
— Ronald Espartinez