MANILA — With most people stranded in their houses, worried about the spread of COVID-19 and misinformation about it in the Philippines, several government agencies and groups have come up with online resources.

These are meant to allay fears and inform the public on what they can do to stop the spread of COVID-19.

1. Real-time developments from DOH Viber group
If you want to get real-time information on new cases or fatalities in the Philippines then follow the Department of Health’s Viber group. They send advisories here almost as soon as they release it to media. Stop relying on questionable sources of information and get updates straight from the government’s health agency.

You may join at: http://bit.ly/DOHPhCOVID-19 or DOH PH COVID-19 on Viber

2. DOH on Facebook or Twitter

The Department of Health also issues advisories and health reminders on its social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter. These can easily be shared with your friends. Updates include information on PhilHealth benefits, how to wear face masks or undergo home quarantine.

They also have diagrams on how to determine if you should be considered a patient under investigation.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/OfficialDOHgov/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DOHgovph

3. COVID-19 tracker of DOH

The Department of Health has also dedicated a special page on the updates for COVID-19 cases. The NCOVtracker website shows a heat map of the Philippines and areas where there are a lot of COVID-19 cases. Users can see a list of hospitals and how many COVID-19 patients are admitted there.

While the updating of the number of confirmed cases are not as quick as in social media, it shows trends and and other useful information such as the ratio of patients by gender and age range. There is also a percentage on how many patients are in a certain province or city, as well as how many Filipinos abroad have been infected.

A tab on global cases also shows the World Health Organization dashboard so users can see how many total COVID-19 cases there are in the world.

4. World Health Organization

If you want to know more about the virus and its symptoms, the best resources would be the World Health Organization’s Q&A page. It answers questions about the symptoms, how likely you are going to be infected and if it’s safe to accept packages from abroad.

WHO also has a special page on COVID-19 in the Philippines.

5. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

It’s important for people to know that a majority of patients are able to recover. The most reliable dashboard on this is Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Interactive Map. It shows that around half of cases have already recovered, although cases continue to rise because of new areas like the Philippines that are being affected.

Their website also has usual information on social distancing and other tips on how to combat COVID-19

Website: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/
Interactive map: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

6. Mental health during COVID-19 outbreak

With a lot of people feeling anxiety and stress over the outbreak, experts have been concerned about mental health. Here is a website where adults can think of ways to care for themselves, mentally.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html

7. Explaining COVID-19 to children

The COVID-19 outbreak is already hard to understand, what more for children? This website helps parents figure out how to explain this complex issue, which has caused a lot of anxiety worldwide.

National Association of School Psychologists: Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource

MORE:

• Tracking COVID-19 cases in the Phiiippines