More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
The ease in joblessness last September, as stressed by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), is one of the gains of the resumption of economic activities following nearly two years of COVID lockdowns.
This, as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed on Tuesday (Nov. 8) that the unemployment rate dipped to 5 percent (2.50 million) from 5.3 percent (2.68 million) in August and 8.9 percent (4.25 million) in September 2021.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said “the government will leverage on this momentum by strengthening policy interventions and investing in innovation and technology systems.”
As he stressed in a statement, these interventions and investments are “geared toward generating higher-quality employment that provides adequate income for Filipino workers and their families.”
With the 5 percent jobless rate in September, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the Philippines is now closer to the pre-COVID full-year average employment rate of 5.1 percent, considering that joblessness had eased for a third month in a row.
But economist Sonny Africa said the only reason unemployment eased was because “millions of discouraged jobless Filipinos are not being counted and millions in pseudo-work are called ‘employed’.”
This, even if the employment rate improved to 95 percent from 94.7 percent in August.
As Mapa explained, the drop in the number of employed individuals was because of the decline in the number of Filipinos 15 years and older who have jobs or are actively looking for work.
According to PSA data, the average weekly hours of an employed person in September was 39.6 a week. This was lower than the average weekly hours spent at work in August 2022 of 40.5 a week.
This, as those who worked for less than 40 hours was at 34.2 percent, which is higher than 33.2 percent in August, while those who worked for over 40 hours dipped to 64.7 percent from 65.6 percent in August. Those “with a job, not at work” was at 1.1 percent.
Africa told INQUIRER.net that the drop in the number of employed Filipinos was mainly driven by the decline in full-time work by a huge 610,000 “that was only partially offset by a 378,000 increase in part-time work.”
“It appears that a large part of this decline is from the notable 118,000 drop in wage and salary workers in private establishments, according to employment data by hours worked,” he said.
He stressed that “this draws attention to how economic activity is faltering amid weakening household purchasing power from high inflation and weak family incomes.”
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1188237 |
The downtrend in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections could be attributed to the public’s hybrid immunity against the disease, an infectious disease expert said Thursday.
This, after the positivity rate or the number of individuals testing positive for Covid-19 in the National Capital Region went down to 7.8 percent, the lowest in the past four months.
“We also have developed some form of population immunity, nakukuha na natin dun sa na-infection naka-develop na ng mga antibody against BA.5 at dun naman sa mga kumpleto ang bakuna at na-booster tuloy-tuloy rin ang protection (we get it from those who got infected and have developed antibodies against BA.5 and from those vaccinated and received booster),” Dr. Rontgene Solante said in a televised public briefing.
The country has overcome the “worst of BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants wave” and its hospital utilization rate has remained low, he added.
Currently, the country’s average daily cases range from 1,000 to 1,500 unlike three months ago when it reached over 2,000 infections.
When asked about the possible effect of the All Saints’ Day celebration on the Covid-19 numbers, Solante said it would manifest on the second or third week of November as the incubation of the virus takes seven to 10 days.
“It’s difficult to predict what will happen to us in December because we’re considering many factors, one is for the new sub variants of Omicron like BQ.1 not to enter the country,” he said.
Solante advised the public not to be complacent in December and to continue wearing face masks during Christmas gatherings especially indoors to avoid virus transmission.
Now that restrictions against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) have been relaxed, the City of Manila on Friday urged its constituents to get inoculated, including booster shots, and the vulnerable population to continue wearing masks indoors.
During her Capital Report, Mayor Honey Lacuna made the oft-repeated reminder that getting vaccinated is both for self-protection and for the welfare of the general public.
Children should especially complete their vaccine shots because nearly all schools are back to face-to-face classes.
“We urged parents of elementary students to bring their children to our health centers. As we all know, some classrooms are crowded. It’s much better if they are vaccinated,” Lacuna, who is also a medical doctor, said in her speech.
Likewise, she asked Manileños to still wear masks indoors, particularly the immunocompromised, although the government said it is no longer mandatory.
“We encourage the elders, those who are immunocompromised, with comorbidities, pregnant, non-vaccinated, with incomplete vaccines, and without booster shoots, to still wear face masks,” she said.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1188399 |
Remember that part in the Bible where following restrictive and unnecessary health protocols is how we are known as disciples of the Lord? Neither do I.The Archdiocese of Manila will continue to implement the wearing of face masks inside its churches.
In Circular 2022-85 signed by Fr. Carmelo Arada Jr. dated November 8, the archdiocese advised monsignori and priests to urge churchgoers to wear their face masks while attending Masses and other religious activities inside churches.
“The Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission and the Ministry on Health Care of the Archdiocese of Manila request that we continue to encourage our parishioners to wear face masks in our churches during liturgical celebrations and other gatherings in compassionate regard to the elderly and the vulnerable,” read the circular.
“The pandemic difficulties stirred us to take care of each other and by this, we will be known that we are disciples of the Lord.”
The Archdiocese of Manila encompasses the cities of Manila, Makati, San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Pasay.
The circular was issued after the government’s relaxed restrictions on wearing face masks.
The Department of Health (DOH) has proposed that the country's emergency response to the coronavirus continue even after the state of national calamity ends this year.In a media briefing Friday, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have submitted to the House of Representatives the Public Health Emergency for Emerging and Reemerging Disease proposal which President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assigned as a priority bill.
"In this bill you'd find the different components, kung ano ‘yung dapat ginagawa natin even if wala tayong state of calamity, magagawa pa rin natin (what we must do even if we don't have a state of calamity, we can still do them)," she said.
Among these are the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19, provision of benefits for health care workers, and discounts on medicines used for the treatment of Covid-19.
"If this law will be passed, we don't have to worry about anything because this replaces and this will become the basis of the different actions that we'll do in terms of public health emergency," Vergeire said.
She said the bill has been discussed during Marcos’ first ever Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council meeting on October 10.
Vergeire said they explained to the legislators that Filipinos are all linked or tied to the state of national calamity declaration, hence a replacement is significant.
"During the meeting, the President specifically said this is a priority bill and it has to be passed," she said.
The DOH and Marcos want the powers given under the state of national calamity to become permanent and enshrined in law. If such a law is not passed soon the DOH says they will recommend an extension of the state of calamity for 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic must not be the only consideration in crafting the government’s policy on the wearing of face masks, an infectious diseases expert said Tuesday.
During the Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Edsel Salvana pointed out that face mask use has also been proven beneficial against other airborne and respiratory diseases.
According to him, infection rates for influenza and other airborne diseases like the respiratory syncytial virus have increased in the United States (US). He stressed that the policy- and decision-makers must not have COVID-19 infections as the sole basis to either relax or tighten up face mask-wearing in the country.
“So for me, rather than thinking about if we need to completely lift masking protocols, the more important thing is that throughout the pandemic we learned that the mask can help prevent not only COVID-19, but a lot of respiratory diseases,” he explained.
“So we should transition [that] instead of masks being coupled with high case cases of COVID-19 or low cases, we should use it as one of our public health interventions that we can employ if number one, we are at risk; or number two, if we have a spike in cases of any respiratory virus in the community,” he added.
Notice how she says they want to protect children from life-threatening diseases and COVID is not on the list.Department of Health (DOH) Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire has warned that children who had not been given their routine vaccines could be “the source of outbreaks” as the country struggles to achieve the ideal immunization target of 95 percent of all kids against vaccine-preventable diseases.“So, what we are doing right now … we are mobilizing the catch-up vaccination in the local government units,” she said at a recent press briefing. “Aside from COVID-19 vaccination, we are focusing on vaccines for children.”
Routine vaccines for children, starting when they are just weeks-old, protect them from life-threatening diseases, such as polio, measles and tuberculosis (TB).
“I would say that it is a cause for concern if your children are unvaccinated,” Vergeire said.
About 2 million Filipino children under 2 years old have not received their shots against vaccine-preventable diseases, she said.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1693295/more-filipinos-got-obese-during-pandemic-survey |
"There were no upsides from the restrictions" is putting it mildly.Did the COVID-19 pandemic that limited people’s mobility for the sake of their health worsen the rising incidence of obesity?
There were no upsides from the restrictions, apparently, as obesity among children, adolescents and adults rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new government survey that measured the country’s food security and nutrition status.
Released on Monday, the 2021 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) found obesity rates among children age 0 to 5 and 5 to 10 at 3.9 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
The same trend was seen among older people, with one in every 10 adolescents and four out of 10 adults were either overweight or obese.
The survey further said 10 percent of adults aged 20 to 59 were obese.
Among the elderly aged 60 and above, 6.2 percent are obese and 11.8 have chronic energy deficiency.
On another aspect, the survey said one in every four Filipino children under 5 years old is experiencing stunted growth.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1694011/non-disclosure-of-covid-19-vaccine-deals-could-be-a-cover-up-for-misuse-of-funds |
The non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between the government and pharmaceutical companies on the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines “could very well be a ‘cover-up’ for the unconscionable misuse of public funds.”
This is according to former Senator Panfilo Lacson after it was revealed Tuesday that until now, there is no detailed audit yet on how much money was spent by the previous administration for Covid-19 vaccines.
For Lacson, “there are hundreds of billions of reasons to audit the government procured vaccines especially after the issues that we repeatedly raised in the last Congress have not yet been answered concerning the grossly overpriced Chinese brand vaccine Sinovac compared to the other brands like AstraZeneca, Moderna and even the US brand Pfizer.”
“The NDA could very well be a ‘cover-up’ for the unconscionable misuse of public funds at a time when our economy was already taking a beating because of the Covid 19 pandemic,” he said in a text message to reporters Tuesday night.
Concerned government officials had repeatedly invoked the NDAs with various vaccine suppliers when the Senate was investigating the alleged overpriced pandemic supplies bought by the past administration.
Lacson said they tried but failed to have a look on these NDAs even in an executive session.
“The new administration should pursue and resolve this matter to its logical conclusion. The Filipino people deserve no less,” he the said.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over, a doctor said Monday, even as the Philippines reports fewer new case numbers.The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday reported 1,858 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the country's total to 4,018,253.
“We can't say yet that the pandemic is over because at this point in time, the case numbers are low, but the virus is still here.,” Dr. Rontgene Solante told TeleRadyo.
“The mutations are still here, and new variants of concerns are being reported in other countries.,” he noted.
The infectious diseases expert said that once more countries continually report no new COVID cases, then scientists can say that the pandemic is coming to an end.
“Once countries are not reporting any more cases, then that’s already the end of the pandemic.”
