DOH Simplifies Classification to Identify COVID-19 Patients
The Department of Health (DOH) released a simplified version of the classification used to identify COVID-19 patients. It follows the identification used by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries for a much uniform classification.
The newly approved classification is sorted into three identifications: suspect, probable, and confirmed.
Suspect
A person is considered to be under the category of a Suspect if he/she is experiencing any of the following:
- Influenza-like illness including a fever of 38 degrees Celsius, cough, and sore throat with either a travel history in a place with confirmed local transmission or close contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 patient both within 14 days before the symptoms arise
- Fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing for people who are 60 years old and above, pregnant women, health workers, or individuals who have underlying medical conditions
- Sudden respiratory problem with severe symptoms that requires immediate hospitalization
Probable
Suspect patients who either have undetermined test results or did not get tested in an official laboratory with RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test are tagged as Probable cases. This also includes suspect patients who remain untested
Confirmed
Patients who tested positive for COVID-19 using RT-PCR testing are considered as Confirmed cases.
The guidelines to identify cases in the Philippines will no longer use PUM (Person Under Monitoring) as a classification while the category of PUI (Patients Under Investigation) is further classified into Suspect and Probable cases.
As of writing, there is now a total 4,648 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines with 197 recoveries and 297 total of deaths.
Also Read: StaySafe.ph: A Helpful Emergency Response Website for COVID-19 Crisis
For more information about COVID-19 in the Philippines, visit DOH’s website and Facebook page.
Source: Philippine News Agency, Department of Health
