The Department of Health (DOH) said the record-high 401 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) fatalities reported on Friday included all fatalities from previous months.
Even with the backlogs, Covid-19-related deaths have been increasing exponentially.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during an online briefing that the 401 deaths covered seven deaths in January, 45 in February, 287 in March, and 49 in April.
“Ito po kasi yung continuous tayong nagva-validate ng deaths and the sources of information coming from the local government and the hospital,” said Vergeire .
“Pero pag titingnan natin, recent naman po itong March and April and we can see really that the cases of deaths are increasing,” she added.
Region III posted the most numbers of deaths at 46%, followed by Region IV-A at 23%, National Capital Region at 13%, Region VII at 10%. Other regions reported smaller percentages.
The DOH said that the backlogs were due to some incomplete data from reporting units from local government units.
“Hindi po natin puwede itala sa official tally natin kung hindi po kumpleto ang detalye kaya kailangan pa i-verify with the local government at saka ibinabalik sa atin,” she explained. Ronald dela Cruz