By Nicole Mae Halasan
Published 2020 April 3 – From Special Issue on COVID-19
“Prevention is better than cure.”
A lot of us were fed up by this reminder as it was incessantly instilled to us heretofore. Despite the fact of it being a recurring nudge, it seems like our current situation with regards to this pandemic has its own ruthless way of making us realize that we already missed our chance of averting it, as we are already in a state of vehemently hoping for recovery of those who experienced the wrath of this virus.
As of 4 pm of March 21, 2020, the largest increase of COVID-19 positive cases recorded in a day has been announced by Department of Health spokesperson, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire during a presscon. An addition of 77 more cases were reported, summing up into a total of 307 confirmed cases in the entire country. Out of these positive cases, 275 were active while one was in critical condition. Moreover, it is unfortunate that 19 deaths were recently recorded as per the death of PH205, a 73-year old Filipino female from San Juan City (COVID-19 2020).
Amidst this crisis, hope is still at reach as there were five new recoveries reported, four of which belong in the vulnerable stage or the elderly, while one is a severe case. To wit, these are PH41, a 75-year old Filipino female from Makati City; PH 16, a 70-year old Filipino male from San Juan City; PH 17, a 69-year old Filipino female from San Juan City; PH49, a 72 year old Filipino male from Batangas and PH62, a 35-year old Filipino male from Rizal (DOH 2020).
Furthermore, as of March 20, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Department of Health (DOH), there were 506 Patients Under Investigation (PUls), 321 Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs), and 1269 tests conducted throughout the country. With such numbers, we need to remain vigilant with regards to this health adversary, and properly adhere to government’s regulations and preventive measures for us to bounce back to our normal lives.
References
COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak [Internet]. 2020.Worldometer: [cited 2020 Mar 21). Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/? fbclid=lwAR3 frokJHg20z 1GbeLIYPdVQqIW8Q7EyzOmeUmF05ObRXEytJx7KBgXc.
DOH COVID-19 Cose Bulletin #007 (Internet). c2020. Facebook: [cited 2020 Mar 21). Available from: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDOHgov/photos/ pcb.3162825907061973/3162820853729145/?type=3&theater.
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