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Fresh COVID-19 cases in Philippines 'going down': gov't special adviser

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<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HVws9Sa3X7o?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>MANILA - The number of fresh cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines is decreasing, one of the government&#x27;s special advisers on the virus said Monday as the country&#x27;s urban hubs began to ease lockdowns.Metro Manila, Davao City, and Cebu City on Monday began to shift into a looser lockdown or general community quarantine in a bid to reboot the contracting economy.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/01/20/kung-di-lalabas-gugutumin-wary-commuters-venture-out-as-metro-manila-lockdown-eases">&#x27;Kung di lalabas, gugutumin&#x27;: Wary commuters venture out as Metro Manila lockdown eases</a></li></ul>&quot;It’s time to test our setup, our system if it will be indeed able to indeed handle the next wave if it does happen,&quot; said Ted Herbosa, who also serves as the executive vice president of the University of the Philippines.&quot;We didn’t waste the time we were in quarantine. We were able to catch up in terms of laboratories. We started with 3 in February, now we have about 37 and several gene expert laboratories,&quot; he added, noting that some 74 laboratories are pending for accreditation from the Department of Health.The Philippines has &quot;some control&quot; in the virus transmission as its doubling time is now at 10 to 12 days versus 2 days in the beginning of the pandemic, Herbosa said.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/25/20/philippines-is-flattening-the-curve-govt-special-adviser-on-covid-19-crisis">Philippines is flattening the curve: gov&#x27;t special adviser on COVID-19 crisis</a></li></ul>&quot;We really are in the deceleration of the curve, but I don&#x27;t know if we are just plateauing because the other number we look at is the time varying reproductive number. I think that’s hovering around 1. We want that number to be really low,&quot; he said.The DOH&#x27;s &quot;dumping of backlog&quot; or the so-called late cases should be added on the dates when the tests were done, Herbosa added.The agency in the past week made new classification for new cases: fresh cases were test results released within the last 3 days, while late cases are results released 4 or more days ago. &quot;Fresh cases are really going down. The cases have gone down to a single digit. In fact there was a day there were only 5 new confirmed cases a day. At least with the removal of what we call late cases that the trend had been continuing. It was only the dumping of the backlog that caused confusion,&quot; he said.&quot;We will do some cleaning up. We will help DOH clean up the data so the public and the decision makers who will use this data--the more accurate, real-time the data is, the decisions will be more robust.&quot;The Philippines still needs to increase its testing as it has yet to reach the ideal 30,000 tests daily, Herbosa said.It should also conduct &quot;meticulous contact tracing,&quot; he added, citing Vietnam, where it was done up to the third level of the patient&#x27;s contacts.&quot;That&#x27;s not gonna be solved by apps, that&#x27;s gonna be solved by surveillance people who will really look for contacts of positive patients, follow them up, do case files on them and test them if needed,&quot; he said.&quot;The only place I&#x27;ve seen that done here in the Philippines is in Baguio City.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/04/14/20/how-cancellation-of-panagbenga-festival-other-tourism-events-helped-baguio-in-covid-19-fight">How cancellation of Panagbenga festival, other tourism events helped Baguio in COVID-19 fight</a></li></ul>As of Sunday, the Philippines has recorded 18,086 cases of COVID-19, with 3,909 recoveries and 957 deaths.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/31/20/philippines-confirmed-covid-19-cases-hit-18086">Philippines&#x27; confirmed COVID-19 cases hit 18,086</a></li></ul>

The number of fresh cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines is decreasing, one of government's special advisers on the virus said Monday as the country's urban hubs began to ease lockdowns.

The number of fresh cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines is decreasing, one of government's special advisers on the virus said Monday as the country's urban hubs began to ease lockdowns.