More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Yes it has been a when year since the lockdowns began. They are still going on as cases surge.
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| https://time.com/5945616/covid-philippines-pandemic-lockdown/ |
Edd Gumban sleeps on a foldout bed in an office in central Manila. The 57-year-old photojournalist has a wife and a home in Bulacan, part of the commuter belt 14 miles north of the Philippine capital, but he is too afraid to go there. The Philippines began imposing stay-at-home orders last March, in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19. There are confusing variations in rules from locality to locality, however. The armed police that man checkpoints have also, at times, been encouraged by President Rodrigo Duterte to shoot lockdown violators dead.
At the very least, Gumban risks being detained, or even beaten, if he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. So rather than commute each day, he only risks the journey every few weeks, when he needs to pick up some things or grab new clothes. The rest of the time, home is a corner of the press office of the Manila Police District. But even there, it seems, he can get no clarity
“Everything is confusing,” Gumban tells TIME. “There are no clear cut policies to follow. The national government says one thing and local governments impose another.”
Such is life in what must now be one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns. The first community quarantine, as it is locally called, was imposed on the island of Luzon on Mar. 16, 2020, when its 53.3 million people—including the capital’s 12.8 million residents—were ordered to stay at home. Since then, community quarantine orders of varying severity have been rolled out across the other islands of the Philippine archipelago.
The climate of fear is undeniable. TV operators in the Philippines used to reserve late-night slots for crime tales and horror shows. These days, they allocate the time to equally grim fare: weekly COVID-19 “updates” from Duterte, shown at the head of a table of military top brass.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is not recommending a strict lockdown for Metro Manila despite the surge of COVID-19 cases. However, he is not discounting the possibility of it happening in the future.
Duque on Wednesday said he thinks localized lockdowns being implemented by local governments are “starting to yield some positive outcomes.”
“As of now, I don’t,” Duque said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel when asked if he would recommend placing Metro Manila under a stricter lockdown.
“Hopefully the reversal of spikes will be observed in the next few days,” he added.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1134377 |
The national government will be imposing additional restrictions in Metro Manila and other areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) status from March 22 to April 4, 2021, Malacañang announced Sunday.
In a virtual presser, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said additional restrictions were approved by President Rodrigo Duterte through Inter-Agency Task Force Resolution No. 104 due to a spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country.
Starting Monday, Roque said Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal will be joining Metro Manila under the GCQ classification.
Under IATF Resolution No. 104, he said only essential travel into and out of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal will be allowed.
Roque described this as a “travel bubble” where residents will only be allowed to travel within the said areas.
“Traveling into and out of Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal will be prohibited. We will have a sort of bubble in NCR, and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal,” he said.
Travel of authorized persons outside their residences (APORs) such as essential workers, health and emergency frontline services personnel; government officials and government frontline personnel; duly-authorized humanitarian assistance actors; persons traveling for medical or humanitarian reasons; persons going to the airport for travel abroad, returning overseas Filipinos and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be unimpeded for as long as they show their respective work identification cards.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/18/21/philippines-10-steps-back-from-square-one-in-addressing-covid-19-ex-health-chief |
The coronavirus situation has worsened in the Philippines, and the country is 10 steps backward from the time it initially addressed the pandemic last year, a former Health Secretary said Thursday.
"Talagang nag-worsen kumpara sa (It has really worsened, comparing) March 2020 at (and) March 2021," Dr. Esperanza Cabral told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.
In a statement released Wednesday, Cabral said, "We are not back to square one. We are ten steps back from square one," as she recalled the challenges, especially of the health sector, when the country first confronted the pandemic.
Officials and analysts attribute the current surge in COVID-19 cases to increased mobility of people, non-compliance with health protocols, and the presence of more transmissible COVID-19 variants.
(We could have been faster in our response, and covered more. I think that was our problem.)
(We have deficiency in terms of contact tracing, border control and now, the vaccine rollout.)
"Assuming that there is a steady supply of vaccines, 'pag ang speed ng vaccination ay katulad ngayon (if the speed of the vaccination is the same as now), it will take us more than 12 years bago matapos 'yong 70 million (before we finished the 70 million)," Cabral said.
Asked if her remark is harsh to government, Cabral, said: "'Yan ang palagi kong sinasabi sa mga kasama ko sa DOH dati (This is what I always say to my colleagues before in DOH). I know you are doing your best. You have to do more than your best, because it's not good enough at this point."
Despite her remarks and other negative viewpoints such as Moody's Analytics which is forecasting herd immunity might be achieved in the Philippines by 2023 the government thinks things are going well.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1408400/govt-target-in-2021-a-better-christmas-herd-immunity-galvez |
The Philippine government is targeting to reach herd immunity this year amid its battle against COVID-19 as it hopes for a “better Christmas” for Filipinos, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday.
Galvez said this can be achieved if there will be a stable supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
“Ngayon ang aming declaration is we will have a better Christmas this year. Kailangan ‘yun ang target namin na we will have a better Christmas. We will inoculate 70 million at nakita namin kaya natin ito kapag nagkaroon tayo ng steady supply ng [vaccine],” Galvez said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
“Ang target pa rin natin si yung 50 to 70 million. Talagang ang target natin ngayong year is herd immunity,” he added.
Should the Philippines reach its goal of herd immunity this year, the target for 2022 is for the country’s “exit strategy” to eliminate COVID-19, said Galvez.
Meeting their goals depends on the vaccine. A few vaccines have been mishandled and were leaking or did not contain enough doses per vial. There has also been a lack of testing which has contributed to likely inaccurate death counts. Even after a year there is much to be done.
There are a few variants of COVID-19 going around but the Philippines does not want a namesake.
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The Philippines changed tune in using the place of origin to name novel coronavirus variants after a new one was detected on a patient from the country.
Local health authorities used to call the other coronavirus variants United Kingdom and South Africa.
It used to call the coronavirus variant from Brazil as “so-called Brazilian variant.”
Early this March, the Department of Health confirmed that a new coronavirus variant was detected on a male traveler in Japan came from the Philippines.
Japanese authorities were the first to announce this on March 13. Japan Times reported that the variant its health ministry found was distinct from the ones discovered in UK, South Africa and Brazil.
The DOH stated that there are already 98 cases of P.3 in the country.
To prevent discrimination
In a briefing on the same day, Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of the DOH technical working group on COVID-19 variants said that they assigned P-3 to this variant to avoid discrimination of the residents who live in these places.
“They’ve come back to us and told us na ito nga ay bagong variant and they are assigning it the P-3 lineage—or the designation of P-3 ‘no, iyon po ‘yung ating tawag doon,” said Ong-Lim.
Kasi iyon nga eh, medyo ayaw na natin iyong practice na ginagamit iyong pangalan ng isang lugar to assign the name of the virus or the variant kasi nga medyo nakaka-cause ng discrimination doon sa mga nanggagaling sa bansang iyon when in fact puwede naman siyang nakikita rin sa ibang lugar,” she added.
The health official also reiterated that they are veering away from the Philippine variant name in formal speeches, citing it an unacceptable practice.
“We want to do away nga with referring this as the PHL variant of the Philippine variant kasi nga hindi acceptable practice iyong ganoon na we assign place names, we’re trying to veer from that,” she said.
The Philippines does not want a COVID variant named after them. Hilarious!
Do you wear a mask? How about two masks??
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/18/2085330/treatment-czar-urges-double-masking-enhanced-precautions-vs-covid-19 |
The country's COVID-19 treatment czar on Thursday encouraged the public to practice enhanced health standards, including the wearing of two face masks, as he admitted that the transmission of the virus is getting out of hand.
Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said OCTA Research Group's forecast that the daily COVID-19 cases in the Philippines would swell to as much as 11,000 by the end of March would materialize if nothing is done to contain the virus.
"So, the way I look at it, these are alarm bells...And if you do nothing, we would fall into that, and the assumption is only based on mathematical projections. But more important is how we are going to respond to the increasing crisis right now," Vega said at a press briefing.
"You have to enhance it (minimum health standards), if there is a double masking, you have to double mask, you have to do all of the things that the minimum health standard requires plus the executive power of the local government units to provide what they call granular lockdowns or zonal containment because this is very effective, and we have seen this last year," he added.
Hopefully this recommendation remans his personal opinion and does not become mandated.Vega clarified that his proposal to wear two face masks is just his personal recommendation, not an official stand of the health department. He said a change in behavior towards health and safety measures would allow one to contribute for the common good of the community.
The OCTA is seeking a return to a hard lockdown as cases surge.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/19/21/octa-group-suggests-hard-gcq-metro-manila-covid-19-surge |
The government must implement a "hard GCQ (general community quarantine) to address the continued increase in COVID-19 cases, which may exceed records of 2020, the OCTA Research Group on Friday said.
This, as the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on COVID-19 announced the 2-week closure of some industries in areas under general community quarantine, including Metro Manila, to help curb the spread of the virus.
“The status quo is not enough. We need more mobility restrictions,” said Prof. Ranjit Rye of the OCTA Group during a virtual forum.
“We are in a surge that is very different and is more serious than the last surge,” he said.
The “Hard GCQ” suggested by the group includes discouraged social gatherings and indoor dining and a more significant work-from-home set-up for industries that can implement it. For workers who are still required to work outside, quarantine pass will be required and mass transportation should be available.
Contract tracing has been pushed as a fundamentally necessary way to curb the spread by tracking all those who the infected come into close contact with. The DILG now admits that proper contract tracing is impossible.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/780546/dilg-admits-1-30-contact-tracing-ratio-virtually-impossible-to-achieve/story/ |
The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Sunday admitted that the ideal contact tracing ratio is "virtually impossible" to achieve amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
In a "Dobol B TV" interview, DILG spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya reacted to the statement of contact tracing czar Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who lamented the low national contact tracing efficiency ratio.
Magalong said the ideal ratio for urban setting is 1:30 to 37, while for rural area is 1:25 to 30.
But Malaya said that the set ideal contact tracing ratio of 1:30 is hard to achieve, much less the 1:37 ratio, in the current rate of COVID-19 infections.
Malaya explained this by illustrating that for every COVID positive person, contact tracers will reach out to 30 of his close contacts. But when one of those close contacts turned out positive as well, another 30 of his close contacts should be looked out for, so on and so forth.
"So exponential yung pagtaas and we do not have that many na tao na nagko-contact trace," he said.
Of course its impossible to trace everyone. But what's more important is now they have everyone scanning cards just to get into the shopping mart! Maybe that was the real purpose all along?
The health authorities have once again reminded the public why they should not take the vaccine.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1134432 |
In an interview on Monday, PHO chief Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman said even though the country has started its vaccination program against the dreaded Covid-19, the vaccines do not give full immunity.De Guzman said all kinds of vaccines do not guarantee an individual who was inoculated would not acquire any diseases or infect other people.“The objective of the vaccination program is to give additional protection to your body to fight the virus but it does not guarantee you not to acquire nor transmit the virus,” she said.De Guzman encouraged the public to properly wear face masks, face shields, and religiously observe physical distancing, as well as frequent hand washing and coughing etiquette.
This admission likely does not even apply to the many variants which the government has finally admitted are driving the surge.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1410147/doh-virus-variants-driving-metro-surge |
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said two highly contagious variants of the coronavirus had been detected in all cities in Metro Manila and these may be driving the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in the metropolis in the past few weeks.
The DOH conceded that the presence of the highly transmissible variants in Metro Manila is a factor in the faster increase in daily cases than at the height of the pandemic in July and August last year.
“We saw that in all the cities (in Metro Manila) we have either the UK variant or South Africa variant. In other cities, there are both the UK and South Africa variants,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosaria Vergeire told reporters on Monday.
“So, yes, we can say the variants are here and yes [their presence] has contributed to the increase in the number of cases, how they increased very fast. But that is not the only factor,” Vergeire said.
She said the root of the problem was the public’s failure to comply with health measures and some “institutional gaps.”
The DOH still can't help but to blame the public even though surveys show the public is complying with all the protocols including masks and shields.
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| https://www.rappler.com/nation/octa-research-survey-filipinos-wear-masks-wash-hands-prevent-covid-19 |
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country, a survey of Octa Research showed majority of Filipinos are complying with the minimum health standards set by the Department of Health (DOH).
The survey, conducted from January 26 to February 1, said 9 out of 10 Filipinos use face masks and wash their hands with soap and water or alcohol and sanitizer to avoid contracting COVID-19.
"The use of face mask and regular cleaning of hands using water and soap or alcohol top the measures Filipinos practice to avoid contracting COVID-19, with 91% and 90% of Filipinos practicing each, respectively," the report said.
The survey released on Tuesday, March 9, also found 89% of Filipinos use face shields. Further, 67% observe social distancing while 60% stay at home when it is not necessary to go out.
If you thought health officials, doctors, would be the best people to lead the response to the pandemic then you are not thinking like Duterte.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1134594 |
Malacañang on Tuesday insisted that retired military officers are the best people to lead the government’s Covid-19 response and vaccination rollout because of their expertise in logistics.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after an opposition senator called for an overhaul of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), saying that it should be led by public health officers and not ex-military officers.
Aside from their knowledge in logistics, Roque explained that ex-military officers were leading the IATF because they were also appointed as members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet.
“(No one has been appointed to the IATF outside of the secretaries and heads of office. It’s true that there are a lot of military who are members but one reason why the President trusts them is because the military excels in logistics),” he said in a virtual press briefing.
Roque pointed out that National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez, who is also vaccine czar, also possesses an impressive set of qualifications.
“(If we’re talking about the fast delivery of vaccines when 80 percent of countries have already pre-ordered vaccines of course the President and I think that the best person for the job is an ex-military, ex-chief-of-staff, and hero of Marawi, Secretary Carlito Galvez),” he added.
Logistics are important in getting the vaccine distributed but that's not the only thing that matter in responding to the pandemic. Let the Palace stop denying that their response has been militarized.
