Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Saturday, September 25, urged the public to view the seeming downtrend in COVID-19 cases “cautiously,” as it could have been affected by fewer tests conducted by laboratories.

“Output from laboratories decreased,” Vergeire said in Filipino, referring to the number of tests examined. Vergeire said they were trying to analyze if it has something to do with the increased use of antigen tests, which she said
should only be done under strict rules. Antigen tests are not part of DOH’s data just yet.

Vergeire said out of 6,000 antigen tests they examined, only around 300 were found to be used according to their purpose. She said it is not proper to use antigen tests to screen borders, workers, and for certain activities as this “is not the proper use for antigen.”

The national government will allow candidates, their companions, certain political party leaders, and Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials and personnel to leave their homes for the filing of candidacies from October 1 to 8.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said on Friday, September 24, that the pandemic task force signed Resolution No. 140 which recognizes the following as authorized persons outside of residence (APORs) during the filing week:

● Aspirants or their authorized representatives
● Companions as authorized under Comelec Resolution No. 10717 dated August 18, 2021
● Chairperson or president, or in their absence, secretary-general or authorized representative of the political party, sectoral party, organization, or coalition participating under the party-list system of representation
● Comelec officials or personnel in connection with the submission of hard copies of the certificates of candidacies and related documents or materials to the Comelec main office as authorized under Comelec Resolution No. 10717

The Philippines now has 2,366,749 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 19,271 new cases on Sunday, September 19.

The DOH reported 205 new deaths due to the coronavirus disease, bringing the death toll to 36,788. Sunday was the 6th straight day that over 200 deaths were reported by DOH.

Meanwhile, recoveries are up by 25,037, raising total recoveries to 2,151,765.

Of the total cases, 178,196 or 7.5% are active. The DOH says two testing laboratories failed to submit data on time.