By John Clifford Lintao
A BIG number of Filipinos infected by COVID-19 are aged 20 to 59 years which the Department of Health (DOH) described as the productive bracket.
In a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said: “Ito pong 20 to 59 years old, ito po ang productive age group, sila kasi iyong lumalabas ng bahay, nagtatrabaho, pagbalik nila sa pamilya, na-iinfect ang ibang maysakit at mga bata.”
Vergeire explained the reasons behind the high incidence of COVID-19 cases among those of productive age – they go out to work. Among those whom she said were infected are those who were exposed on the way to work, at the workplace, overseas Filipino workers and locally stranded individuals who have been contaminated while waiting for the clearance to go home.
The breakdown:
• 37,188 aged 20 to 29
• 34,700 aged 30 to 39
• 23,939 aged 40 to 49 and
• 18,087 aged 50 to 59.
There are also at least 3,500 individuals aged below 10 years old who have been infected with COVID-19. The number of COVID-19 cases on those aged 10 to 19, on the other hand, reached 6,249.
Among senior citizens, 10,687 COVID-19 cases were recorded among those aged 60 to 69, around 4,000 among those aged 70 to 79 and around 1,000 among those aged 80 and above.
The Philippines has 147,526 COVID-19 cases as of August 13. Of this number, 70,387 recovered while 2,426 died. The active cases is at 74,713.