THE Department of Health yesterday said the death rate of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2020 was higher compared to the 2021 case fatality rate (CFR) even if reported cases are higher this year.
The DOH said the CFR this year as of September 8 has so far been at 1.49 percent of the total cases, which is lower compared to the 2.47 percent recorded from March to December 2020.
But the DOH said that in actual numbers, though, the number of deaths is higher in 2021 with 23,064 dying from COVID-19.
On the other hand, the DOH logged 11,607 COVID-19 patients who succumbed to the virus in 2020.
According to the DOH, the lower death rate for this year can be attributed to different factors, among them vaccination efforts, upgrades in health and critical care capacity, referral systems, and clinical management.
Various brands of COVID-19 vaccines started arriving in the country only in March this year.
To back its statement, the health department cited as example Metro Manila, where 5.8 million people (59.76 percent of the region’s population) are already fully vaccinated, which it said has the lowest CFR among all regions at 0.94 percent, down from the 2.31 percent mortality rate in 2020.
“For NCR (National Capital Region), the lower CFR was multi-factorial, which includes its high vaccination coverage and increases in its health and critical care capacity,” the DOH said.
The DOH said the country’s death rate was highest during the first two months of the pandemic last year — 18.6 in March and 9.8 percent in April.
Since July 2020, the CFRs per month did not go higher than 2.66.
The DOH said that since February 2021, the country has never reached the two (2) percent CFR.
