Philippines Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation Report 9, 24 March 2020

Highlights

90 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on 24 March and 82 new cases reported on 23 March 2020. 2 additional deaths were reported on 24 March and 8 on 23 March - Out of 552 confirmed cases, 45% are still under investigation. 62% are male, with people between 50 and 59 years of age among the most affected. 50% of cases are reported from the National Capital Region (NCR)

Increased testing capacity at Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and 4 sub national laboratories contributing to increased number of reported cases.

Distribution of 100,000 donated test kits from China to sub national laboratories expected soon once validation process is finalized. Assessment in final stages of additional hospital laboratories to expand testing capacity.

Reported shortages of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) resulting in increased risk of exposure to health workers.

The Department of Health (DOH) currently dispatching large quantities of donated PPE to the regions, including 10,000 sets from China, prioritizing public hospitals.

Online training on Infection Prevention and Control for rational use of PPE among hospital workers to be piloted this week.

Community quarantine measures aimed at decreasing stress on health facilities through minimizing risk of infection, potentially resulting in lower morbidity and mortality. Key focus on at-risk groups including elderly and people with underlying health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension - Ongoing cooperation among public and private partners in procurement of urgently needed supplies in view of global shortages - Government finalizing National COVID-19 Contingency Plan complemented by Humanitarian Country Team Response Plan

Current Situation

Between 22 and 24 March, 172 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the Philippines, and 10 additional deaths, totalling 552 confirmed cases, including 35 deaths.

Out of total 35 deaths, 79% are male, ranging between 34 and 88 years of age with a median age of 66. 90% of deaths had either one or several known co-morbidities including diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension.

Among the 552 confirmed cases, 340 are male (62%) and 212 are female (38%). The most affected age groups are 51-60 (21%) followed by 61-70 years (20%)

Country readiness and response operations

Country-level coordination

The National COVID-19 Contingency Plan is being finalized with inputs from key government partners, complemented by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) Response Plan for COVID-19.

COVID-19-related restrictions are hindering many NGO partners in ongoing operations to provide support to displaced populations affected by recent disasters, mostly on the part of Local Government Units.

WHO supporting regional Centres for Health Development (CHD) in Mindanao with assessment of hospi-tal readiness and selection of quarantine facilities for COVID-19 cases at city and province level.

All relevant government guidelines, issuances, and documents available online at bit.ly/COVIDPH.

Risk communication and community engagement

WHO and UNICEF supported DOH in the conduct and analysis of the rapid risk perception survey, done within 72 hours following the announcement of community quarantine. Insights from 14,000 respond-ents provided inputs to the risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) plan and activities.

DOH established a coordination mechanism for RCCE, involving its in-house communications resources and support from other government agencies, the academe, and development partners. Through daily meetings, the communications team gathers insights from a review of media and social media sentiments and perceptions and decides on public messaging and communications response to issues. DOH posts regular situation updates, virtual pressers, and information materials through its platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Viber group.

OCHA and WHO co-leading the partner coordination for communications on COVID-19 with Humanitarian Communications Group partners, which includes members from UN agencies and international NGOs. Plans are underway on community listening and engagement to reach the most vulnerable population.

Surveillance

DOH has an Infodemic Control Unit, looking into and actively addressing reports of false information cir-culating online by releasing fact check and advisory cards through the DOH social media channels. The Infodemic Control Unit is composed of staff from DOH, PhilHealth and other government agencies.

National laboratory system

Laboratory assessment being finalized to look into adding further private and public hospital laboratories to step up laboratory testing in country, besides RITM, 4 sub national laboratories (Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Manila), and the University of the Philippines National Institute for Health (UP-NIH). Upon validation of the 100,000 PCR-based tests donated by the Chinese government, RITM will distribute the tests to the sub national laboratories.

To ensure transport of laboratory specimens and other supplies for COVID-19 response and other health programs is not hampered by increased number of areas with community quarantine in place, health au-thorities at all levels are working on regional, provincial, municipal and city-level cross-border relay mech-anism.

Global shortage of key supplies is resulting in serious delays with delivery of reagents, primers, probes, extraction kits and transport media. WHO and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are supporting DOH with the sourcing of urgently required laboratory supplies.

Infection prevention and control

Online IPC training for public and private hospitals workers to be piloted this week. Online training mod-ules to be adapted with latest DOH guidelines and feedback from pilots, after which a Training of Trainers will be held for selected number of facilitators from DOH, RITM and the USAID’s Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPs).

UNICEF working with DOH on adapting IPC guidelines into user-friendly information products, to be disseminated among commu-nity health workers and the broader population through Facebook live sessions, Zoom webinars, online learning platforms and other.

Case management and continuity of essential ser-vices

Virtual working groups between UN and NGO partners compiling technical inputs on relevant guidelines focused on community-based isolation, continuation of essential health care services, in-cluding TB, HIV, mother and child health care, non-communicable diseases, nutrition, and routine immunization.

Up to 50 volunteers, mostly medical students of the University of the Philippines, are supporting DOH in curating information from various resources with respect to clinical/public health protocols and other non-health sector advisories available online. The volun-teers also support a Viber chatgroup for over 7,500 health workers moderated by licensed physicians, including nightly chat sessions.

WHO is supporting the Health Facility Development Bureau (HFDB) of DOH with mapping of hospitals for easy monitoring of stocks, case management capacity and equipment through the WHO-led platform HeRAMS (Health Resources Availability Monitoring Sys-tem) https://herams.org/

Resource mobilization

Grant

DOH has received grants from the below donors up to date:

Notes:

ollibee Foods corporation donation of food worth 100 million pesos ($1,948,558)

Globe telecom donated medical supplies worth 5 million pesos ($97,428) through Red Cross

US-Philippine Society donated $10,000 to Philippine Army for Hazmat B Suits.

As of 23 March, WHO received more than US$ 195 million and an additional US$ 69.6 million in pledges to its global appeal. This includes €114 million from the European Union to support 80 priority countries with weakened health care systems and capacity including the Philippines.

Furthermore, 20 top business groups raised over 1.5 billion PHP in cooperation with the Philippine Disas-ter Resilience Foundation (PDRF) to help poor families that were economically displaced by the ongoing Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila.

Loan

24 March 2020 5

24 March 2020 5

Logistics, procurement, and supply management