The Philippines is the Southeast Asian country with the most number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.
As of April 15, the Philippines counted 5,453 cases, compared to 5,136 in Indonesia and 5,072 in Malaysia. This was followed by Singapore, 3,25; Thailand, 2,643; Vietnam, 267; Brunei, 136; Cambodia, 122; Myanmar, 74; and Laos, 19.
READ: COVID-19 Tracker: Philippines as of April 15, 2020
In terms of fatalities, Indonesia had the largest number of deaths at 469, followed by the Philippines with 349.
Malaysia registered 83 deaths and Thailand had 43.
Despite having the most number of COVID-19 cases, the Philippines has only recorded 353 recovered patients, much lower than Malaysia (2,647), Thailand (1,497), and Singapore (611) and Indonesia (446).
Still, for the first time, the number of recoveries surpassed the number of deaths in the Philippines, the Department of Health said.
The DOH registered the highest daily record of recoveries from the respiratory disease at 58, overtaking Tuesday’s record of 53.
However, confirmed cases for the new virus nationwide jumped to 5,453 with 230 new infections. There were also 14 new deaths for a total of 349.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said President Rodrigo Duterte and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed a Japanese-developed flu drug Avigan which may be used to treat patients with COVID-19.
He said the talks took place at the special virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Nations and its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea on COVID-19 on Tuesday.
READ: Highest recoveries in a day set at 53
Nograles said that during the meeting, Duterte reiterated that the Philippines is ready to participate in clinical trials of drugs such as Avigan.
In a virtual press confernce, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that as of April 14, the country’s COVID-19 testing centers have so far conducted 39,947 tests, of which 5,782 were positive and 34,116 were negative.
So far, the DOH said the youngest COVID-19 fatality in the Philippines is an infant, who was less than a month old, from Batangas province.
Vergeire said the male infant was brought to the hospital because he had trouble breathing. It was then that he was diagnosed with pneumonia. She said the cause of death was late onset sepsis due to severe respiratory infection.
Sepsis, which is an extreme response to infection, was often cited as a cause of death in the previous fatality cases reported by the DOH.
Even though the DOH stopped issuing information on individual patients, she said the DOH’s new COVID-19 tracker website includes one male fatality who is 0 to 4 years old.
Before the 29-day-old infant, the youngest fatality in the Philippines was a 7-year-old girl from Pangasinan who died due to hypovolemic shock caused by acute gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.
Meanwhile, an official of the DOH National Center for Mental Health (NCHM), who has been vocal about the COVID-19 situation at the facility, has been removed from her post.
Clarita Avila, NCMH chief administrative officer, was ordered transferred to the Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) in Las Piñas City.
READ: Pharma giants Sanofi, GSK working on COVID vaccine for 2021
The transfer came just days after the NCMH barred Avila from speaking about the situation at the Mandaluyong facility, where she had alleged that several patients in the psych ward had died and that personnel were in quarantine for COVID-19 exposure.
Avila branded as a form of harassment and persecution her transfer to a Las Pinas drug facility.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Huang Xilian, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, on Tuesday turned over to Philippine government authorities medical supplies that were airlifted by a special “goodwill flight” from China.
“We are glad to see some of the medical supplies have been airlifted to Manila by this special flight. This ‘goodwill flight’ demonstrates the new era of partnership,” he said.
China will continue to support and assist the Philippines in its fight against COVID-19, he said, expressing optimism that the Philippines will be able to beat the pandemic.
“Facing the challenge of COVID-19 outbreak, China and the Philippines have been supporting and helping each other. We will continue to provide our support and assistance to the best of our ability to the Philippines. It is our firm belief that the dawn of victory will come at the earliest,” Huang added.
Huang also cited the visit of 12 Chinese medical experts who have gone to more than 10 front-line medical agencies, such as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Lung Center of the Philippines and Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center and shared with public health officials and professionals their experience and practice on COVID-19 prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment.
Also on Wednesday, Senator Nancy Binay said the government has yet to designate a point-person who will be responsible for sourcing, coordination, acquisition, consolidation, development, and distribution of medical supplies necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“The lockdown is already one month, but no government unit is accountable or anyone from IATF is in charge of medical logistics,” she said.
Binay expressed her disappointment over the apparent lack of foresight in anticipating the required medical logistics, noting that the government’s failure to factor in the medical supply chain in the fight against COVID-19 has already exposed thousands of health workers to the deadly virus.
Based on accounts shared by medical workers in the frontlines, the failure to survey the needs of public and private hospitals has raised alarm about shortages of supplies, personnel and government support at nearly every stage of the COVID-19 treatment process.
“Doctors, nurses and health workers are ready to sacrifice and serve, leave their families behind, and risk their lives during this public health emergency. But government must also show that it truly cares–not by asking them to die for the country–but [by providing] them with life-saving resources necessary to allow them to save lives of thousands more,” Binay noted.
According to clinical research, patients who took the drug turned negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease in a median of four days after they had become positive — much faster than patients not taking the drug, who turned negative for the virus in a median of 11 days.
Also, 91 percent of the patients who received the medicine saw their lung functions improve, compared to just 62 percent of those who didn’t take the drug.
The drug developer, Fujifilm, said it would “continue to work to establish a treatment method for COVID-19 patients through conducting clinical trials, and to contribute to ending the spread of this global pandemic as soon as possible by increasing the production of Avigan in collaboration with strategic partners.”
“According to Prime Minister Abe, there are 50 countries that are interested in studying this drug further,” Nograles added.
Avigan is the brand name for anti-flu drug favipiravir. It is among the drugs being tested worldwide as a treatment for COVID-19.
The President, Nograles said, has told his fellow leaders that all countries should be given fair and easy access to potential coronavirus treatments and vaccines.
Nograles on Wednesday said more than 38,000 people have already been tested for COVID-19.
“These numbers now lead us with an inventory of 99,750 test kits. As we announce [this], more test kits are arriving,” Nograles said.