6,800 COVID-19 tests still awaiting validation — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — There are at least 6,800 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests that will be validated in the coming days, the Department of Health (DOH) disclosed Monday.

“Ito pong sinasabi natin na mga backlogs, meron po tayo sa ngayon, we have around 6,800 pa na kailangan pong i-validate natin na atin pong pagtratrabahuhan sa mga susunod na araw para magkaroon na tayo ng at least approximation between unique individuals tested and those confirmed positive for COVID-19,” DOH Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said in an online Palace briefing.

(Those are what we call backlogs, we have around 6,800 that still need to be validated and we will work on it in the next few days. This is so we can have at least an approximation between unique individuals tested and those confirmed positive for COVID-19.)

Vergeire, however, noted that the 6,800 cases to be validated cannot be added yet to the existing 18,086 confirmed cases.

“Ito ay hindi pa sigurado. Kapag vinavalidate natin ang mga kaso, ating tinitignan baka may duplication, baka may mga erroneous inputs so babawasin pa rin natin yan,” she explained.

(It’s not certain yet if the cases for validation may all be added to our existing confirmed cases. When we validate cases, we are looking at possible duplication of cases, or erroneous inputs. So we expect that number to still decrease.)

The DOH earlier changed its reportage of COVID-19 cases, with “fresh” pertaining to test results released to a patient within the last three days while “late” are test results released to a patient four days ago or more and may be considered its backlog.

EDV