Coronavirus variants are not the cause of the increase in the number of COVID-19 patient deaths recently, according to one expert.
For infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante, age, and comorbidity or other diseases are the most common causes of death of COVID-19 patients.
“Ang risk factors nito, kadalasan elderly. Nakikita namin dito chronic diseases. Sila ‘yong high risk for mortality,” said Solante.
“It’s more of the age and presence of comorbidities and the number of cases. The number of cases, higher din ang proportion na matamaan ang 60 years old and above, maraming pasyenteng magde-develop ng severe and critical because of the increase in the number of cases,” explained Solante.
According to DOH data, the case fatality rate or percentage of deaths in COVID-19 rose slightly to 1.72 percent from 1.67 percent on April 5.
Based on DOH data, ABS-CBN News Data Analytics Head Edson Guido said that the number of deaths is now beyond the peak last year.
“Kung titingnan deaths by itself, talagang mataas. Kung titingnan ang date of actual death, nalampasan na natin ang peak noong last year noong nagkaroon tayo ng surge noong 2020,” said Guido.
Age, other diseases of COVID-19 patients common cause of death: expert
Guido also explained that the increase in deaths does not mean that the number of cases will increase immediately.
To see the case fatality rate, we must look at the number of deaths and the total number of those who tested positive for the disease, he said.
“Let’s be cautious in interpreting case fatality rate especially kung kukunin natin every 2 weeks kasi mas magandang tinitingnan over a longer time frame kasi doon mo mas naka-capture ‘yong result ng mga positive cases whether nag-recover or namatay sila,” said Guido.
Meanwhile, experts continue to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 variant in France that is said not to have been detected in the RT-PCR test.
According to Philippine Genome Center Executive Director Cynthia Saloma, information about the reported variant is even more limited.
It is also possible that the test used in France was related to this.
Despite this, Saloma believes that strict adherence to the quarantine protocol of those entering the country should be maintained.