By ANALOU DE VERA
Five patients infected with novel coronavirus disease-2019 have recovered, the Department of Health said yesterday.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said there are more than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines.
Among those who have recovered from the disease were the country’s first confirmed case – a 38-year-old woman from Wuhan, China, and the third confirmed case – a 60-year-old woman also from Wuhan. Both of them were treated at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila.
Duque said that the recovery period of those in serious condition may take to three- to six-weeks.
“I-tetest mo pa ‘yan bago mo sabihin recovered, unless negative hindi mo puwede sabihing recovered, although puwede mo sabihin clinically recovering, pero siyempre kailangan ng ebidensya, testing ang pinakamalaking ebidensya,” he said.
The Philippines now has 140 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 11 deaths as of posting time.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the DoH is still studying if they would try the antiviral medicines used by other countries to treat those infected with COVID-19.
Vergeire explained that the antiviral medicines are not specifically intended to treat COVID-19.
“Para magamit natin itong mga gamot na ito kailangan sumailalim nanaman ito sa regulatory standard natin kung tama nga ba na ginagamit natin ang mga gamot na ito para sa sakit na COVID-19,” she said.
Food and Drug Administration Director-General Rolando Enrique Domingo reminded the public that there are only two COVID-19 diagnostic test kits being used in the Philippines – the laboratory kits of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and the University of the Philippines- National Institute of Health-developed test kit which is “scheduled to start field testing on Monday, March 16.”
“Many companies have been marketing test kits since the start of the COVID outbreak, however, the source and the reliability of these devices are yet to be verified,” said Domingo.
“We cannot vouch for its safety and efficacy by merely accepting the stated claims of a testing kit without the proper regulatory certification from the country of origin and a reliable national regulatory agency. These kits may give false positive and false negative results which may affect the response to this pandemic. They may also be counterfeit products that will not test for the novel coronavirus at all,” he added.
Domingo urged the public to be vigilant against unregistered health products.
“This is not the time to take advantage of the scarcity of resources by allowing unregulated items into the system. Let us continue to look after each other’s safety,” he said.
