EVERY day at 4 p.m., the Department of Health (DoH) provides an update on the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) epidemic in the Philippines that includes, among other things, two highly anticipated, important pieces of information: the number of new and cumulative cases of infection by the novel coronavirus; and the number of infected people who have died. These numbers are considered the official yardstick for the spread of the epidemic in the Philippines and, by inference, the success or failure of efforts to stop it.
Unfortunately, they are wildly inaccurate. The reality is that, like most countries, the Philippines is in all likelihood hardly making a dent in the Covid-19 pandemic.