More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
It's 2021 and vaccines are on the way but lockdowns are still happening in the Philippines.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/772434/4-areas-in-qc-placed-under-special-concern-lockdown/story/ |
Quezon City has placed four areas under special concern lockdown following an increase in COVID-19 cases after the holiday season.
In a statement on Tuesday, the QC government said areas to be locked down are the following:
- No. 62 Agno Extension in Barangay Tatalon
- No. 1 Salary Street in Barangay Sangandaan
- No. 54 Interior, Magsalin Street in Barangay Apolonio Samson
- 9C, 9D, 97 La Felonila Street in Barangay Damayang Lagi
“These granular lockdowns are our immediate and proactive response to control the situation in these areas. Since last year, our special concern lockdowns have been proven effective in controlling the spread of the disease among neighbors and families,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“All families in these areas will undergo swab testing in order to identify other infected individuals. However, even if they tested negative, all will still have to finish the 14-day mandatory quarantine period to check if they will develop any symptoms during the said period,” CESU head Dr. Rolly Cruz said.
The city government said it will provide all families under quarantine with food packs and other necessities.
At least the government will provide these families with food while they keep them locked inside their own homes for two weeks. If they have to rotate this kind of lockdowns then it would seem that they are not effective at controlling the disease. It seems like a game of whack-a-mole.
Cebu City is also experiencing a resurgence in cases and has deployed police to the proper areas.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128101 |
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will reactivate the barangay control points in 40 villages to limit the movement of the residents now that coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases are on the rise anew, the police chief here said on Thursday.
Col. Josefino Ligan, CCPO chief, said in a press briefing they will present to the Emergency Operations Center the deployment plan of more or less 100 policemen who will man the barangay control points.
“They will be assisted by the barangay peace and security officers (BPSO) in apprehending violators of our quarantine measures,” Ligan said in Cebuano.
He said those who are not bringing quarantine passes and disregarding protocols such as wearing of face masks while outside of their homes will be arrested.
The CCPO is eyeing “targeted control points” in 40 barangays identified as having increasing number of Covid-19 cases. The city has 80 barangays.
Half of the barangays in Cebu City will be flooded with cops to arrest health protocol violators as cases continue to rise.
A lockdown has also been imposed in the mountain province of Bontoc where the new UK variant is spreading.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1387370/2-barangays-in-bontoc-moutain-province-on-lockdown-amid-covid-variant-surge |
The regional director of the Department of Health-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) on Saturday said that two barangays in Bontoc, Mountain Province were placed on lockdown after a surge in Covid-19 variant cases.
During an online press briefing, DOH-CAR Director Dr. Ruby Constantino also warned that should the local health care utilization rate continue to increase, the LGU will recommend to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) for the change of quarantine status for the entire region.
Mountain Province is currently under moderate general community quarantine (MGCQ).
“Currently, the LGU of Bontoc municipality implemented the lockdown of the concerned barangays,” Constantino said.
This comes a day after the DOH announced that it detected 16 additional Covid-19 variant cases.
This variant is said to be 70 percent more infectious.
Of the 16 new cases, 12 of them were detected in Bontoc, Mountain Province.
Seeing as how lockdowns did not stop the spread of the virus 100% and this variant is 70% more contagious it is certain this variant will spread far and wide.
Last year Duterte said he would be publicly vaccinated to instill confidence in the people at its safety. He has now changed his stance.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/21/21/duterte-need-not-explain-taking-covid-19-vaccine-in-private-spokesman |
President Rodrigo Duterte need not explain his decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in private, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Duterte said that while he had "no problem" in taking the first anti-coronavirus shots that will arrive in the country, he did not think it was necessary to do this in public, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
This is a departure from Duterte's August 2020 statement that he was willing to be the first one to be injected with the coronavirus vaccine to prove its efficacy and safety. He was referring particularly to Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine.
Asked what changed Duterte's mind, Roque said: "That's his personal decision. I don't think he has to explain."
To build public trust in the vaccine, the government instead holds press and public briefings, he told reporters in an online briefing. Vaccine hesitancy has been observed among the Filipino public in the wake of the 2018 controversy over anti-dengue shot Dengvaxia, which was said to have adverse effects.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128102 |
More than 400,000 workers from some 26,000 business establishments were displaced last year due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Thursday.
The department’s 2020 Job Displacement Report showed that a total of 428,701 employees from 26,060 establishments were left without jobs nationwide from January to December 2020.
It said 90 percent or 23,324 companies have adopted reduced workforce while the reminding 10 percent (2,736) reported permanent closure.
Even more people have lost their jobs as Nissan has announced the closure of their factory due to the pandemic. That is only 133 workers. But the flip-side of these loses is that almost a million business have either renewed their permits or registered for the first time.
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| https://business.inquirer.net/316169/pandemic-gives-rise-to-new-entrepreneurs |
According to the DTI’s Business Name Registration (BNR) Division, total registrations last year reached 916,163, of which 91 percent were considered new while the rest were renewals. This is nearly 44-percent higher than the total registration in 2019 at 637,567.
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez referred to these figures during the virtual launch of RCBC’s digital banking app called DiskarTech on Wednesday. The data were then shared by the DTI BNR division when asked for further information about the numbers.
“Amid the pandemic, there are still many opportunities that we can find and discover. In fact, during the pandemic, [the number of] newly registered businesses [went up to 916,163 as of December]. That’s the highest growth rate since 2010,” Lopez said. A newly registered business name, however, does not automatically mean the enterprise is already operational. They still need to get a business permit in order to start their operations. The DTI BNR said they do not have any data on how many of these already started operations. Nevertheless, DTI BNR data suggested that many entrepreneurs turned to retail—either online or brick-and-mortar stores—to make ends meet last year as the pandemic dragged the country to its worst recession in decades. Of the total, 140,371 business names were for sari-sari stores while 88,574 names for online stores.
Calabarzon topped the list with the most number of registrations at 183,876, followed by Metro Manila at 157,886; Central Luzon (119,708), Central Visayas (57,692) and Western Visayas (49,718), according to DTI BNR data.
Elsewhere, however, the numbers are grim.
Unemployment rate in October last year, according to data released in December, reached 8.7 percent, equivalent to 3.8 million unemployed Filipinos. Moreover, job displacement data from the labor department reportedly said that nearly 87,000 establishments temporarily closed as of October last year, more than 15,500 reduced their workforce while 1,751 closed permanently. With the Duterte administration not keen on extending generous packages to help save companies, a lot is expected from a pending bill in Congress called CREATE, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises.
There are of course a lot of caveats to this news. The government's response to the pandemic has hurt the economy but it hasn't crippled it. There will be a resurgence. It's only a matter of when. Clearly the will is there.
Banks might not be willing to lend though and that is crucial to economic growth.
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https://business.inquirer.net/316233/banks-tighten-credit-standards-as-lingering-pandemic-raises-risk-aversion Increasingly risk averse banks – anticipating a fallout of bad loan this year due to the coronavirus pandemic – are putting higher hurdles for borrowers to clear in the current quarter, a poll conducted by the central bank revealed.
According to the quarterly Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey, some banks have implemented tighter standards for corporate clients due to a more uncertain economic outlook along with expected deterioration in borrowers’ profiles and profitability of banks’ portfolios, and banks’ lower tolerance for risk.
The survey also revealed that, during the current quarter respondent banks are also implementing tighter overall credit standards for household loans for the same reasons.
According to the central bank, most respondent banks are seeing net increases in overall loan demand from enterprises associated largely with corporate clients’ higher inventory financing and accounts receivable financing needs, improved economic outlook, and lack of other sources of funds.
Banks are also seeing a net increase in overall loan demand from households – specifically personal or salary loans – due largely to higher household consumption, lower income prospects, and lack of other sources of funds.
This is of course a flip-side to the flip-side. People want to open new businesses and buy new houses and get on with life but the banks are loathe to loan money because it might not get paid back.
The government is banking on the vaccine to stop the pandemic but it seems they really aren't so sure about it after all.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1387774/doh-reminder-covid-19-vaccine-not-a-magic-pill |
People still need to wear masks and face shields after being vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
“We want to remind our people that the Covid-19 vaccine is not a magic pill. We still don’t have sufficient evidence to have that assurance that [people] won’t get infected [after being vaccinated],” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told an online briefing on Wednesday.
“What we are seeing so far are evidence of less chances of having full-blown diseases, of needing hospitalization, and of dying,” she said.
Vergeire also said the period of immunity to the new coronavirus after vaccination had not been established.
“It is still unknown how long the immunity provided by the vaccines can provide will last,” she said.
What is the point of taking the vaccine if the effectivity is unknown and unsure? You might be better off getting infected since there is a more than 90% recovery rate.
COVID-19 testing is invasive and unpleasant. They stick a huge swab through the nose to the back of the throat. Thankfully a saliva test is now available.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/773092/red-cross-starts-offering-covid-19-testing-using-saliva-specimen/story/ |
Laboratories of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) are now open to conduct COVID-19 tests using saliva samples, PRC Molecular Laboratory head Dr. Paulyn Ubial said on Monday.
Interviewed on GMA Network’s Unang Hirit, Ubial said the test can be availed of through online booking or walk-in service.
“Meron tayong online booking pero tumatanggap kami ngayon, as of this week siguro, ng walk-in,” Ubial said.
Those interested may book a slot via the PRC website.
On Saturday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Department of Health already approved the use of saliva as alternative specimen in COVID-19 tests in PRC laboratories.
Vergeire, however, noted that the DOH will wait for the validation test results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine before allowing saliva test in other laboratories in the country.
According to Ubial, the organization’s latest study on the new method of testing for COVID-19 diagnosis yielded 98% accuracy.
Running a test on a sample would take three to four hours. The process however takes longer with more samples in line.
According to Ubial, the PRC charges P2,000 for the COVID-19 test using saliva specimens.
This development is especially good for incoming travelers whom the DOH recommends test twice.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/773003/doh-advises-all-inbound-travelers-to-undergo-covid-19-test-twice/story/ |
All inbound travelers to the Philippines have been advised to undergo COVID-19 test twice to make sure they are not infected with the coronavirus, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
In a public briefing on Saturday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said inbound passengers should be tested on the fifth day to seventh day from their arrival in the country.
According to Vergeire, the viral load in a COVID-19 patient peaks on the fifth to seventh day of the infection.
What a burden. Why even bother coming to the Philippines? You know what else is a burden? Having to dress up when you go shopping. Now the DOH is studying the effectiveness of double masking which has been trending lately.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/27/21/mask-shield-enough-but-doh-to-study-double-mask-option-vs-new-covid-19-variant |
The Department of Health on Wednesday said it would look into whether or not wearing two face masks at a time would be more effective in avoiding COVID-19, with the new and more transmissible variant now in the country.
This after double masking was recommended by United States' top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said it was “common sense” that having an added layer of physical covering can prevent respiratory droplets from spreading.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire pointed out that Filipinos have already been using additional protection.
(Because we think that wearing one mask and then a face shield is enough to be protected. We can see that from the time we implemented the mask and the face shield, our cases have not ballooned. Although cases have increased, it’s still manageable.)
(We just need enough evidence so we can also recommend for this.)
(But I think having one mask, which guarantees us protection of 60 to 70% plus having a face shield and practicing physical distancing, which will give you about 99% protection is enough for now.)
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/26/21/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-puwet-shot-covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine |
It's final: President Rodrigo Duterte will get vaccinated against COVID-19 in private, Malacañang said on Tuesday, despite calls for the chief executive to get the jabs in public to boost the Filipino's confidence in the drug.
Duterte "is taking the route" of the Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband to take the COVID-19 shots in private, his spokesman Harry Roque earlier said.
Asked if this is already final, Roque said, "I think so. He has said so."
"Sabi nga niya dahil sa puwet siya magpapasaksak, hindi pupuwedeng public," he told reporters in an online briefing.
(He said he would get the vaccine shots on his buttocks, so it cannot be in public.)
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