More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The government received 1 million more doses of Sinovac but see if you can spot what's happening in this pictures.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/14/21/more-sinovac-vaccines-arrive-in-philippines |
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1459404/ph-receives-another-1m-doses-of-coronavac |
These officials are plastering the boxes of Sinovac with stickers that read RESBAKUNA. It's a pun. RESBAK means revenge and BAKUNA means vaccine. Get it!? What a waste of money.
Herd immunity is the goal with the vaccines. Many dates have been set but 2021 is probably not going to happen. Now the goalposts have been moved to mid-2022.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1459332/ph-seen-achieving-herd-immunity-in-mid-2022 |
The Philippines would be among the last countries in the region, together with Vietnam and Taiwan, to vaccinate 70 percent of its population and achieve the so-called herd immunity, UK-based think tank Oxford Economics said on Tuesday.
Vaccinated people are protected from getting the disease and passing on the virus, thus inoculating such a big number would break the chain of transmission and stop the further spread of COVID-19.
Oxford Economics projected that it would take up to the middle of next year for the Philippines to inoculate some 78 million people or 70 percent of its population of 111 million.
Achieving herd immunity is necessary to allow the reopening of more economic activities. The longer it takes to achieve this, the longer the delay in economic recovery.
"Inoculate" is not the right word to use as the vaccine does not offer immunity. The fact that many vaccinated individuals have been infected is testimony to that fact. Getting 78 million people vaccinated will certainly pose a huge logistical challenge since so much of the population lives away from large cites like Manila.
LGU's have some discretion in the way they handle the pandemic but not much. The DOH and IATF are calling the shots. But what if the DOH's data is wrong?
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/795440/san-juan-mayor-zamora-questions-doh-data-on-number-of-covid-19-cases/story/ |
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora on Thursday said the data of the Department of Health on the number of COVID-19 cases in local government units showed some discrepancies.
Interviewed on GMA News’ Unang Balita, Zamora opposed the report of the DOH claiming that San Juan City is among the eight cities in Metro Manila with increasing trend over the past two weeks.
(It’s really because of their reporting system called COVID KAYA reporting system. Because sometimes, the data are not being verified thoroughly that is why there are discrepancies.)
Zamora said the DOH has to reconcile with local government units as many of them are questioning the data of the department.
Based on the city government’s data, Zamora said San Juan only has 75 cases as of Wednesday. According to him, the DOH data showed a higher number of infections.
GMA News Online has reached out to the DOH for its comment on the matter, but has yet to reply as of posting time.
In 2020, the DOH had been criticized for its supposed errors in data.
The UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team released Policy Note No. 6 which pointed out the “alarming patient-level inconsistencies, if not gross errors” in the DOH's database of cases.
Several senators expressed concern over the “prevailing data issues” supposedly hounding the DOH COVID-19 tracker.
Despite the criticism, members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) stood firm on the accuracy of its data.
Just how many errors are in the DOH database?
Here is a real interesting story that belies any notion of a pandemic.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1147232 |
The remote town of Jipapad, Eastern Samar documented its first coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection on Thursday.
The patient contracted the virus outside of their town, Rona Mariblanca, municipal health officer, said in a text message on Friday.
She said the first confirmed case is a 31-year-old female who takes care of her husband currently admitted at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) in Tacloban City.
Although already connected to the national road, the town is still considered as one of the remotest areas in the region, which is frequently hit by flooding.
The town is in the northeastern part of the province near the border of Eastern Samar to Northern Samar province, accessible through the national highway from Arteche town in Eastern Samar and Lapinig town in Northern Samar.
With Jipapad recording its first Covid-19 case, the disease is now present in all 136 towns and seven cities in the region.
One really has to ask, if there is a real pandemic happening why is this town only now recording its first case of COVID-19?
People want COVID restrictions to be lifted for many reasons but is that a good idea?
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/16/21/as-covid-restrictions-ease-drug-related-killings-on-the-rise-anew |
Drug-related slays are on the rise again, following eased lockdown measures in parts of the country, based on data of the ABS-CBN Investigative & Research Group, which has been tracking incidents since President Rodrigo Duterte announced his controversial war on drugs.
The number of drug-related deaths that the ABS-CBN Investigative & Research Group monitored in the first six months of 2021 alone is already almost twice the numbers reported in the 9.5 months from March 17-Dec. 31, 2020, when a stricter lockdown was in effect.
From January to June of this year, there were already 175 deaths reported compared to 195 reported from March to December 2020 when stricter quarantine restrictions were put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.
"There were fewer reports of these killings. The numbers declined but when restrictions eased we’ve monitored that the numbers are steadily rising again in the last few months,” Che De Los Reyes, head of the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, said on ANC’s Rundown on Friday.
The group’s interactive map and charts showed a total of 6,840 drug-related fatalities from May 10, 2016 up to June 30, 2021. This is slightly higher than the Philippine National Police’s official tally of 6,117 deaths. However, human rights groups believe that figures could be much bigger.
“Our figures are based on news reports. We’ve been compiling this since May 10 2016, after the May 9, 2016 elections and we’ve been consistently monitoring several print and radio, TV networks all over the country and we also scour websites of the Philippine National Police and PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) and other official websites,” Delos Reyes said.
But aside from those reported killed during law enforcement operations, the group also track those reportedly killed by unidentified assailants, and bodies that have been dumped in public places. She said that is probably why their figures are slightly higher than that of the police.
“We believe that this is just a snapshot of the numbers that have been killed or that has perished in this war on drugs because these are the cases that were reported by the media. We know that there’s underreporting...probably because of the lockdown, many local outlets closed down during the pandemic and the mobility of reporters was affected. We surmise that the numbers are much higher than those reported in the media,” she said.
It appears that the war against drug users and dealers is back on as killings are on the rise.
The pandemic has kept everyone apart and now it may keep one grieving OFW mother from attending her daughter's wake and funeral.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/795551/ofw-mom-asks-for-shorter-quarantine-so-she-could-be-at-daughter-s-wake/story/ |
An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is pleading for a shorter quarantine period so that she can attend the wake and funeral of her daughter, who died last week.
According to Cedric Castillo's report on "24 Oras," Grade 10 student Cherry Mae Saranza was brought to a hospital after her relatives found her looking pale and unable to speak.
A CT scan revealed clumps of blood forming in her brain. She passed away on July 7, just before her junior high school moving up-rites.
Cherry's mom, Rosamil, found it difficult to book flights from the United Arab Emirates, and did not arrive in time to be with her daughter at the end.
Rosamil could not hold back her tears as she recounted that her final moments with her daughter were only through a video call.
[I could not even hold her. I could only see her through the camera. Until she passed away. I was just telling her, 'Wait for Mama, please just stay strong.]
Finally in Tanza, Cavite, Rosamil is only on the third day of the strict 14-day isolation protocol of the national government.
She is asking the national government to allow her a shorter stay at the quarantine center so that she can finally attend her daughter's wake.
[I am begging you to allow me to see my daughter just for a short while, for the last time.]
[I just want to see her. I am already here in the Philippines, just a few miles away. Just a little bit more and I can be with my daughter.]
According to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), only the Department of Health may decide whether to shorten the quarantine period of returning Filipinos.
This is the result of the Philippines' completely unscientific and totally burdensome measures to fight a virus with an official recovery rate of 93.9%.
The Delta variant has arrived in the Philippines. Health officials say private hospitals are understaffed and that more oxygen is needed. The stock market dropped and the peso lost value at news of the Delta variant being detected in the Philippines.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1147577 |
Both the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) and the peso started the week’s trade in the negative territory partly on concerns regarding the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).The main equities index shed 1.59 percent, or 106.63 points, to 6,587.20 points.All other counters tracked the main gauge, with the All Shares down by 1.29 percent, or 53.39 points, to 4,084.55 points.Property registered the biggest drop among the sectoral indexes after it fell 3 percent and was trailed by the Services, 1.73 percent; Holding Firms, 1.19 percent; Financials, 1.17 percent; Industrial, 0.57 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.38 percent.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day at 50.34 from 50.235 last Friday.
A drop in the peso's value is good for those receiving money from OFWs abroad but here it means more inflation.
Everyone is going crazy about the Delta variant. The MMDA is warning parents to keep their children inside, Duterte has warned about restoring stricter restrictions, and the PNP says they are ready to implement those restrictions.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/07/20/2113833/pnp-ready-implement-stricter-lockdown-vs-delta-variant |
The Philippine National Police said it was ready to enforce strict quarantine rules once more should President Rodrigo Duterte decide it necessary.
This comes after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque at a press briefing Monday said that a return to a stricter quarantine status was entirely possible amid the risks posed by the more transmissible Delta variant.
In a statement sent to media, Police Gen. Guillermo Eleazar called on the public to cooperate with minimum health standards with the confirmation of 35 Delta variant cases in the Philippines.
"We have all witnessed what happened in India and we do not want the COVID-19 scandal to happen in our country, especially since there are confirmed cases and there are already deaths in our country due to the Delta variant," the PNP said in Filipino.
"But the safety of our country remains in the hands of every Filipino, all that is needed is to abide by the rules implemented by our government for the protection of everyone," he added.
It remains to be seen just what the government will do in an effort to stop this new variant. Hopefully they do not destroy the country any more than they have already done.
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