MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) could be underreporting, although unintentionally, on information about the deadly coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Saturday.

According to Lacson, underreporting could happen if the DOH has an insufficient number of test kits to confirm positive cases of the fatal disease.

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“It begs the question: Do we have a sufficient number of testers to cover a decent number of our population especially in the more vulnerable areas of the country?” Lacson said in statement.

“If no, the DOH may be underreporting albeit unintentionally. Having said that, we do not see the problem of the virus as it actually exists,” the senator added.

Lacson also noted that the government should not only invest in “prevention and cure by way of research but also on containment.”

Lacson made the statement after the DOH recorded three new cases of confirmed COVID-19 patients, which makes the total number of confirmed cases to six. Of the six cases, three involve Filipino nationals.

DOH also announced that there is already a local transmission in the Philippines after the wife of 62-year-old Filipino, who is the fifth coronavirus case, tested positive for the disease.

No cover-ups

Sen. Joel Villanueva also asked the country’s health department to become transparent in the reports to make sure there are no cover-ups on cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines.

“All we ask from the agency is that they should be forthcoming with timely, transparent disclosures on cases. There should be no coverups,” he said in another statement.

Villanueva also said the country deserved correct information as it was already suffering from misinformation even before the disease started.

/atm