Back to 200+ new cases: More “fresh cases” on May 30 with 252, only 46 and 109 in last two days

Despite the new classification and the distinction made between “fresh cases” and “late cases”, the “fresh cases” reported spiked again to 252. The total new cases reported is 590, with 338 reported as “late cases.”

Reported new cases from May 23 rose steadily until it peaked at a record-breaking 539 cases on May 28 (highest since March 31), the report that the Department of Health (DOH) first made a distinction between “fresh cases” and “late cases.” Reported new cases per day in May were more than 200, except for seven days there were over 120 and four days there were over 300. The 30-day average of new cases is at 291.

According to DOH, “fresh cases” are those with results released within three days, while “late cases” are those with results that were released to patients after four days.

The DOH had more than 7,000 testing backlogs on Monday and DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reporting the new cases and explain the new classification, said that backlog has been reduced to 545 as of May 29 and would be cleared on May 30. The rise in cases, Vergeire said, is due to aggressive validation.

The DOH and many experts had been giving interpretations on “flattening the curve” and “slowing down of cases” based on the DOH data, and the government pandemic response, in turn, supposedly based their decisions to move into various levels of quarantine based on DOH interpretations and data. The testing backlogs and validation backlogs have been more actively addressed by DOH in their press briefings since the 539-spike in cases on May 28.

Recoveries reported number to 88, while on May 29 there were 122 recoveries. Active cases are up from 71% yesterday to 72% today, while recoveries are at 22% on May 30, lower than the 23% the day before.

Samples tested by COVID-19 labs as of May 29 are still below 9,000. Positive individuals are now at 23,079 as of May 28,  while confirmed cases are at 17,224 as of May 30 or at least 5,855 positive cases validation backlog.