More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Vaccine is the word of the moment and the Philippines is doing what it can to prepare for when it arrives.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/766496/duterte-allows-fda-to-grant-emergency-use-authorization-for-covid-19-vaccines/story/ |
President Rodrigo Duterte has allowed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.
Duterte gave his consent through Executive Order 121 he signed on Tuesday.
An EUA will reduce the processing time for the approval of the vaccines for local use from six months to 21 days, officials earlier said. The issuance of an EO on EUA was both proposed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
The FDA assures the public that his will greatly speed up the approval process from 6 months to 40 days. This means the vaccine could be ready to distribute by March of next year.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1123737 |
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo said Thursday it is possible that coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines would roll out in the country as early as March 2021.
Domingo was responding to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque's remarks saying President Rodrigo Duterte wants the Covid-19 vaccines acquired earlier than Health Secretary Francisco Duque III's projected period which is the second quarter of 2021.
(I'm more hopeful, I'm expecting the US, UK or European Union to issue an EUA by December but the UK has issued one already. This is three weeks earlier than what I expected and it seems that the US will EUA to Pfizer and) Moderna within two weeks," Domingo said during an online media briefing.
(So, when they apply to us, probably first few weeks of January we can provide an EUA and there may be a chance that by March there's already vaccine here in the Philippines. It will all depend on the production if supply can be allocated and delivered to us and we'll distribute the vaccines)," Domingo said.
While everyone waits for the vaccine to arrive it is time to get the economy going again. Domestic travel might just be the thing.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1123738 |
Domestic travel amid the prevailing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic may help lower the country’s unemployment rate, Malacañang said Thursday.
In a press briefing from Palawan, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement after data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that around 3.8 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and above are unemployed.
PSA said the figure is equivalent to an 8.7 percent unemployment rate in October, which is slightly lower than the 10 percent recorded in July and 17.6 percent in April this year.
Roque said Palace was saddened by the figure but noted that this is precisely why the government is pushing domestic travel to support tourism industry workers and businesses.
“(We are saddened because that’s still a big number. That’s why our advocacy now is to promote places open for tourism because it is easy to provide jobs in tourism. That’s why we support this in our press briefings),” he said.
Since there is a need to balance health and economy, he said travelers should learn to live with the virus while waiting for a vaccine to be available in the market.
“(Tourism plays an important role in giving jobs to our citizens. Because of this, we have reached the point where we need to learn how to live with the virus),” he said.
But how many of the jobs which have been lost are tied to tourism? There are rolling lockdowns throughout the nation and many small businesses have had to close. Tourism as a main source of income is, as the pandemic has shown, a very precarious bet. Even domestic travel is easier said than done.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1123632 |
"For us to move forward, the government agencies have to acknowledge the potential of the tourism industry and that's the first and in doing so ensure the harmonization of efforts to open," Aileen Clemente, president of Rajah Travel Corporation, said during the Arangkada Forum 2020 on Wednesday.
She said it is very important that “we make sure we have a harmonized implementation towards the opening.”
Compared to April 2020 when every border was almost closed, Clemente said the restrictions have since been relaxed.
"We started at 72 percent where every border was almost closed and not a lot of movement has happened, and now we're down to 43 and 36 percent of those that are now just partially closed, and the rest have just put several travel restrictions so if you will look at the movement from April to September, this is already showing us that the borders are slowly opening," she said.
Despite the pandemic's effect on tourism, Clemente said the sector remains an important driver of economic growth especially now that the country tries to recover from the crisis's impact.
"Tourism doesn't go away it actually just mutates in the way that we offer tourism, in fact, the pent up demand for travel will give us a V-shape recovery rather than a U-shape recovery as predicted even by the World Travel & Tourism Council," she said.
For the moment no foreign tourists are allowed in the country so they really are targeting domestic tourists but with money being tight for everyone because of the pandemic it's just not a sure thing. A COVID-19 passport might change that.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/08/20/dot-welcomes-proposals-for-covid-19-passport-to-facilitate-international-travel |
The Department of Tourism on Tuesday welcomed proposals for a “COVID-19 passport” that would supposedly indicate if a traveller has been vaccinated for the coronavirus while on cross-border transit.
“The Department of Tourism supports initiatives to facilitate international cross border travel with stringent health and safety measures in place,” Romulo-Puyat said.
“The proposals for a ‘COVID-19 passport’ is welcome and will be looked into by the DOT, together with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), as it will involve medical data on the vaccines and diplomatic agreements with other countries.”
She said a “COVID-19 passport” is vital to reviving international travel “as it will restore the trust and confidence of people to travel to other countries once more while assuring receiving countries that their inbound tourists are vaccinated.”
The IATF does not want minors in malls but it is ok if they go on family trips!
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1367611/minors-allowed-in-outtown-trips-with-families-says-ano |
Minors are allowed to go on out-of-town trips with their families amid the strict quarantine restrictions being imposed to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Thursday.
(Families who want to have a vacation or go to a specific resort are allowed to bring minors. Minors are allowed to go out with their parents under this setting because they can be easily controlled on these trips.)
(Out-of-town trips are specific so minors can be easily controlled that’s why we allow them to join.)
Children cannot go to the mall but they can go on long distance vacations. Makes sense I guess. In clown world! Here is another update from clown world but it's not funny and laughable.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/04/20/yantok-wielding-patrollers-to-check-physical-distancing-vs-covid-19-official |
Troops wielding "yantok" or batons will make rounds in public areas to check compliance with physical distancing, which is meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said Friday.
The deployment of police officers and soldiers will be doubled in Metro Manila's areas of convergence like public markets, malls, churches, and transport hubs, said Joint Task Force COVID Shield head, police Lt. General Cesar Binag.
(We also have a so-called social distancing patrol. This was ordered by our national police chief Gen. Debold Sinas. They have a one meter-long batons to enforce, measure distancing and hit hard-headed people.)
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1124110 |
Better to beaten than shot I guess.“The instruction for our social distance patrollers deployed in malls, markets, terminals, and train stations is they are required to carry a baton or yantok, whatever term you want. This will be used for social distancing to avoid contact because without it, the police would have to hold the violators,” PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas told reporters in a press conference held at Camp Crame.
Sinas reiterated that the rattan sticks would not be used to harm anyone.
"You see, we have rattan sticks because we have run out of baton. Baton measures only about one foot so we preferred a longer one which is rattan sticks to determine physical distance. It won't be used to strike anyone. Also, if one turns out to be violent, we can use that to subdue them instead of shooting them,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Joint Task Force Covid Shield Commander, said rattan sticks are non-lethal weapons and could be used to arrest resisting quarantine violators.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses of society, prompting the Philippines to prioritize strengthening its health systems, President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday before the United Nations.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our societies and institutions. Our immediate responses were necessary, yet have driven our societies apart,” Duterte said in a pre-recorded speech at the UN General Assembly’s special session in COVID-19.
“Our first priority is to strengthen the capacity of health systems. Without a cure and a vaccine, we can only delay the spread of the disease while we reopen our economies,” he added.
The deterioration of the nations's health care system has been ongoing for years. Front and center is that too many nurses leave the country because of low pay. Second of all is that all the hospitals, the ones I've visited anyway, are just gross and understocked and understaffed.
The government has done all it can to cancel Christmas in the name of stopping the spread of the virus but the Catholic Church has found a way around those restrictions. They will hold multiple dawn masses in churches and they will hold services in large gyms to allow for social distancing.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/12/03/2061099/cbcp-hold-dawn-masses-basketball-courts-gyms |
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will bring Simbang Gabi closer to the people as it allows the holding of pre-dawn masses outside of churches to accommodate more mass-goers.
Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the CBCP’s committee on public affairs, said some pre-dawn masses would be held in large venues such as basketball courts or gymnasiums.
The holding of the pre-dawn masses in large venues is the CBCP’s way of protecting the people against COVID-19, Secillano said.
CBCP president and Davao Bishop Romulo Valles instructed parish priests and bishops to coordinate with local government units (LGUs) in their localities for the schedule of Simbang Gabi in venues large enough to accommodate more people.
In his instructions, Valles said the pre-dawn masses could be held as early as 6 a.m. for the morning masses and 6 p.m. for the evening masses so more Eucharistic celebrations can be held before Christmas.
Fr. Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of the Quiapo Church, said they would hold more masses in the church – two in the morning and one in the evening – and another at the Liwasang Bonifacio.
Innovation is the name of the game in surviving the pandemic. People have to adapt to these times. It's why one man was declared the most outstanding COVID-19 volunteer in the Eastern Visayas.
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| https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/353958/army-reservist-lawyer-named-most-outstanding-covid-19-volunteer-in-central-visayas |
The Regional Development Council in Central Visayas (RDC-7) named a lawyer in the army reservist as the Most Outstanding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Volunteer in the region.
This was part of the national government’s search for the Most Outstanding COVID-19 volunteer in the country as recognition to the efforts of the citizens in the pandemic response.
Jose Mari Gotiangco was deemed the most outstanding volunteer for leading the funding and innovation of improvised face shields during the pandemic, which was distributed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, hospitals, and other facilities.
His makeshift face shields was a cheaper alternative for the frontliners to use amid the high demand and low supply of personal protective equipment (PPEs) during the onslaught up to the peak of the pandemic in March to July 2020.
Within the basket, 22 index stocks suffered a year-on-year decline in nine-month earnings while three turned unprofitable. Only five index companies bucked the downturn.
The five companies, and others, are as follows:
The categories of businesses which have thrived are also as follows:
1. Food manufacturing
2. Grocery stores
3. Telecommunications/broadband service
4. Sin products: Liquor and tobacco
Number 4 is surprising because there have been rolling liquor bans throughout the country since March. It's not a surprising list overall as the number one essential service is food production and procurement, i.e. grocery stores and food factories. A lot of services have moved online too so number 3 is no surprise either.
While the rest of the world has put a priority on mass testing the Philippines has not and the importance of such has only come recently as a realization to Duterte.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1369710/after-duterte-realization-doh-now-bracing-for-free-covid-19-tests |
“You know, what’s really important, and I realized now, it’s the testing, the swabbing, the test. It’s expensive,” Duterte told Duque, speaking partly in Filipino.
“So maybe if you can give me a figure, see if there’s money, and we will just buy [testing kits]. And in all government hospitals or in health centers, we will give [tests] free of charge.”
Calls for free mass testing have been going since mid-March when the government imposed strict quarantine measures to curtail the spread of the respiratory disease.
But the government repeatedly rejected the appeal, with Malacañang saying that no country can test all its citizens.
That's some real great leadership there. It's the kind of leadership that keeps the Philippines firmly where it is in the global hierarchy.
