Tuesday, March 30, 2021

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/

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Active Covid-19 cases, positivity rate hit new highs

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 01:48 AM PDT

THE Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 9,000 new coronavirus infections for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, pushing the number of active cases to a new high.

In its case bulletin at 4 p.m. Tuesday, the DOH listed 9,296 new cases, lower than the daily tally in the last four days, including the 10,016 infections on March 29.

These brought the number of active cases to a new record of 124,680, which make up 16.8 percent of the cumulative case count of 741,181.

The bulk, or 96 percent, of these active coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases have mild symptoms while 2.3 percent are asymptomatic and 0.39 percent are moderately ill.

Critical and severe cases comprise 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. These have led to a steep increase in intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rates, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said during the weekly meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, March 29.

The daily positivity rate nationwide exceeded 20 percent, the highest for the country. As of noon of March 29, 20.4 percent of the 30,518 samples tested for Sars-CoV-2 yielded positive results.

The DOH case bulletin also listed five additional mortalities, raising the Covid-19 death toll to 13,191. The case fatality rate declined further to 1.78 percent as deaths remained low and new cases continued to soar.

There were 103 new recoveries, bringing the total to 603,310, or 81.4 percent of the cumulative case count.

In his report to Duterte on Monday, Duque blamed the upsurge in cases on poor compliance to minimum public health standards, poor implementation of prevention, detection, isolation, treatment and reintegration strategy, and the presence of Sars-CoV-2 variants.

As infections climbed, the healthcare utilization rate also increased.

He said Covid-19 capacity have to be increased to 50 percent in government hospitals and 30 percent in private hospitals.

Isolation and quarantine facilities for the mild and asymptomatic cases must also be increased to reach the target of one bed for every 1,000 persons and prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed.

Duque also reminded local government units (LGUs) to limit home quarantine to just 10 percent of the close contacts of a Covid-19 patient.

As of March 28, the number of health facilities with critical Covid-19 occupancy rates of more than 85 percent in the National Capital Region (NCR) has increased to 47 while those at high risk inched up to 22.

There were also 13 facilities at moderate risk and 72 which were still in the safe zone.

Regionwide, more than three of every four ICU beds for Covid-19, or 76 percent, were occupied in the NCR as of March 28 while nearly 70 percent of the isolation beds and about 59 percent of the ward beds were in use.

More than half, or 57 percent, of the mechanical ventilators in the region were in use.

In Cagayan Valley, one of every four hospitals was classified as critical. As of March 28, 16 health facilities had critical occupancy rates, 10 at high risk, 8 at moderate risk and 30 were still in the safe zone.

Regionwide, 67 percent of the ICU beds for Covid-19 patients were occupied as were 65 percent and nearly 79 percent of the isolation and ward beds, respectively, were in use.

Nearly 51 percent, or 33 out of 65, mechanical ventilators were being used.

The National Capital Region (NCR) continued to account for the highest number of new cases as of March 29.

In the last 14 days, the DOH tracker showed the NCR had 54,354 new cases, followed by Calabarzon (16,092), Central Luzon (9,068), Central Visayas (4,473) and Cagayan Valley (3,218).

Among the cities and provinces, Quezon City had the highest 14-day running total of 10,809 as of March 29, followed by Manila with 8,473, Cavite with 5,771, Bulacan with 5,404 and Rizal with 4,552. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)

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2 activists arrested in Pampanga, Tarlac

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 12:03 AM PDT

TWO activists were arrested in separate operations in Tarlac and Pampanga on Tuesday morning, March 30, 2021.

Joseph "JC" Canlas, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL) leader and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) vice chairperson, was arrested in Mexico, Pampanga.

Pol Viuya, Bayan-Central Luzon and Workers Alliance of Region III leader, was nabbed in Bamban, Tarlac.

Both were brought to the Central Luzon police headquarters in San Fernando, Pampanga, KMP said in a statement.

"Canlas and Viuya were persistently red-tagged and vilified by the NTF-Elcac (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) in tarpaulins and posters branding them as recruiters of the New People's Army (NPA)," the group said.

Brigadier General Albert Ferro, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said the arrests were part of the nationwide simultaneous anti-crime and law enforcement operation.

He said CIDG agents had a search warrant against Canlas for firearms and ammunition. Canlas also has a standing arrest warrant for malicious mischief.

Recovered from his possession were various firearms and explosives, Ferro said.

No additional information was released on Viuya's arrest.

Their arrest was made around three weeks after March 7, when nine activists were killed during simultaneous police operations in Calabarzon. On March 28, a labor leader was killed by unidentified gunmen in Calamba, Laguna. (SunStar Philippines)

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Nearly 3,000 apprehended on first day of NCR+ lockdown

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 11:30 PM PDT

POLICE apprehended 2,807 persons for various quarantine violations on the first day of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal.

Philippine National Police (PNP) records showed that 1,303 were warned, 1,097 were fined, 154 were penalized with community service and 252 were released from detention pending the filing of charges against them.

Some were apprehended for not wearing face masks or face shields while some were found violating the prohibition on mass gatherings.

PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana said policemen on the ground had to deal with persons who are not authorized to go outside their residences, including children.

Plenty of public utility vehicle drivers were not aware of the limited capacity imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Under the new ECQ guidelines, public transportation is not suspended but operations are limited to 50 percent of capacity. As a result, a lot of commuters had to wait for hours or had to walk.

PUVs, however, are not covered by the 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in the ECQ areas. (SunStar Philippines)

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DOH recommends one-week lockdown extension in NCR+

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 10:46 PM PDT

AS coronavirus infections have continued to increase, the Department of Health (DOH) has recommended a one-week extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region plus.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is assessing the economic impact of a potentially longer lockdown.

"The ideal would really be two weeks so that we can be able to see that effect that we would want," Vergeire said in a television interview on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.

Vergerie said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will assess their recommendation and render a decision before Sunday, April 4.

NCR and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, dubbed as NCR plus, is under ECQ for the Holy Week from March 29 to April 4.

On Monday, March 29, the DOH recorded a new record high of 10,016 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases. More than half of these were from NCR plus.

Professor Guido David, Octa Research fellow, said the tighter restrictions have reduced the reproduction number (R0) to 1.86 from last week's 2.05.

"Significant naman 'yung decrease and in fact naka-two days pa lang tayo ng ECQ. We're expecting na bababa 'yung reproduction number by the end of the week, baka nasa 1.4 na lang siya or 1.3," David said in a television interview.

The reproduction number refers to the number of people infected by a Covid-19 patient.

This does not necessarily mean, however, that Covid-19 cases are on a downtrend.

"The fact na greater than 1 'yung reproduction number, it means tumataas pa rin 'yung bilang ng kaso so kukulangin pa rin 'yung one week para sa mga hospitals natin," he added. (SunStar Philippines)

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22.9B NCR+ residents to get P1,000 ‘ayuda’

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 08:59 PM PDT

THE government will distribute assistance worth P1,000 to 22.9 billion low-income residents of the National Capital Region (NCR) and provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal during the Holy Week lockdown.

Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado told President Rodrigo Duterte Monday evening, March 29, 2021, that qualified individual beneficiaries will receive P1,000 in kind. Per family, the budget is not more than P4,000, also in kind.

At least 80 percent of the affected population, more than the number of beneficiaries under Bayanihan 1, will benefit from this latest assistance.

There will be 11.2 million beneficiaries in the NCR, 3.0 million in Bulacan, 3.4 million in Cavite, 2.7 million in Laguna and 2.6 million in Rizal. Distribution is expected in the first week of April.

Avisado said the budget, estimated at P22.9 billion, will be taken from P23 billion unused funds under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, or Bayanihan 2.

Avisado said congressional approval is no longer needed for the release of the funds because the President is authorized under the Bayanihan 2 law to use any unutilized funds for pandemic response.

Appropriations under Bayanihan 2 are valid until June 30, 2021, he noted.

Avisado said the funds will be given directly to the local government units (LGU), which will distribute the assistance based on the Bayanihan 1 social amelioration program (SAP) list.

"Sa meeting po ng ano po ng IATF (Inter Agency Task Force) kahapon, at in the exigency of the need to provide immediate assistance, ang mga pondo po, once you have approved it, will be released to the LGUs for distribution to affected individuals in kind --- in kind po, Mr. President --- to ensure that food and other non-food requirements are adequately provided," he said.

Duterte asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to watch for oversights.

"Not because we do not trust the mayors, I said. Iba ito eh. Iyong iba ito 'yong noon na pinadaan natin kung sino-sino tapos nawala 'yong --- 'yong ibang pera nawala. Hindi naman lahat but there were a lot of complaints regarding na --- the non-remittance of the money," he said.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Baustista said they will set up a grievance mechanism together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Avisado said the LGUs will also have to submit reports to the Commission on Audit.

In Cacarong, Pandi, Bulacan, the barangay distributed Tuesday morning relief assistance consisting of three kilograms of rice, four packs of noodles, four cans of meat loaf, two cans of corned beef and mongo beans. (SunStar Philippines)

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Quarantine restrictions tightened in more areas for April

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 06:50 PM PDT

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has approved the reimposition of tighter measures against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in at least five more areas and retained the quarantine classifications for the rest of the country for April.

As announced earlier, the National Capital Region (NCR) and provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal are back under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for Holy Week from March 29 to April 4, 2021.

"Halos back to zero tayo dito," Duterte said during his regular public address Monday evening, March 29.

Two areas in Cagayan Valley region were reverted to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), the second most stringent form of quarantine, while three others will go into general community quarantine (GCQ).

Quirino province will be under MECQ April 1 to 15, 2021 while Santiago City in Isabela will revert to MECQ for the entire month of April.

The entire province of Isabela as well as the provinces of Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya, all in Cagayan Valley, will revert to GCQ from April 1 to 30.

Baguio City and the provinces of Apayao, Kalinga and Mountain Province will remain under GCQ. The restrictions are extended to cover the entire Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), which means that the provinces of Abra, Benguet and Ifugao will revert to GCQ.

Other areas that will remain under GCQ are Batangas, Tacloban City (Leyte), Iligan Ciy, Davao City and Lanao del Sur.

The rest of the country remains under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

Escalation of quarantine levels and risk classifications is based mainly on the healthcare utilization rate, according to Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases guidelines.

To de-escalate quarantine levels, the IATF looks at healthcare utilization rates, attack rates and case doubling time, among others.

Earlier Monday, the Department of Health announced 10,016 new Covid-19 cases, a new record high for the Philippines.

Although most of the cases are mild, the steep increase in infections has placed the public health systems in the capital and other areas under critical level. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)

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First batch of government-procured vaccine arrives

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 04:07 AM PDT

THE Philippines on Monday, March 29, 2021, received the first tranche of one million CoronaVac doses out of the total 25 million doses procured by the national government from vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech Ltd. of China.

"The arrival of these vaccines is great news as we are beginning to see the fruits of our negotiation efforts after months of hard work to provide vaccines for our people. This is but the first of the many other doses we have negotiated in order to achieve our goal of herd immunity," vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

Galvez said he was expecting the delivery of 1.5 to 4.0 million additional Sinovac doses by April and May 2021 together with the additional 979,200 AstraZeneca vaccine doses from the Covax facility.

"These will allow the country to further expand coverage of our vaccination program," Galvez added.

With the arrival of additional vaccines, the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination program is expected to ramp up as the government recently approved the simultaneous conduct of vaccination to priority groups A1 to A3.

"The arrival of these vaccines is very timely. As we finish vaccinating healthcare frontliners, we will be able to use this new batch of purchased CoronaVac vaccines to extend vaccination to vulnerable Filipinos—or those with pre-existing conditions and comorbidities—who are at most risk of severe Covid-19 and highest chance of dying," said Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

Even with the arrival of additional vaccines, Duque reiterated the need to adhere to the minimum public health standards by wearing face masks and face shields, and observing physical distancing.

President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez and Duque welcomed this latest vaccine shipment from Sinovac, together with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. (SunStar Philippines from PR)

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Elderly, sickly adults now eligible for Covid-19 vaccine

Posted: 29 Mar 2021 02:39 AM PDT

(UPDATED) Aside from health workers, elderly Filipinos and those with pre-existing medical conditions are now eligible to receive a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday, March 29, 2021, that vaccinations will now be simultaneous for Priority Groups A1, A2 and A3.

She said local government units (LGUs), particularly those prioritized for vaccinations, were given on Saturday, March 27, the go signal to administer the vaccine to the three groups.

Vaccinations for Group A1, which consists of around 1.76 million active healthcare workers, began on March 1, a day after the arrival of the 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine donated by China. It was the first vaccine shipment to reach the country.

Group A2 is made up of over 9.0 million elderly or senior citizens while Group A3 is composed of around 14.5 million persons with underlying medical conditions or comorbidities.

Dr. John Wong, resident epidemiologist for the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (Nitag), said it is important to vaccinate the elderly as soon as possible because they are five times more likely to develop severe Covid-19 and 10 times more likely to die.

It is also vital to provide protection to persons with comorbidities because these heighten the risk of severe disease and death.

"Because of the scarcity of vaccines, we have to prioritize those at highest risk of hospitalizations and deaths. After the health workers, these are the two groups of Filipinos who need to be protected," Wong said.

Among those with comorbidities, first priority will be given to those with the following conditions: chronic respiratory disease, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, malignancy, diabetes mellitus, obesity and chronic liver disease.

Persons with any of the seven diseases may show a medical certificate within the last 18 months or prescription within the last six months from their physician to register for the vaccine.

Vergeire said they will be subjected to a medical assessment at the vaccination site, like all other vaccinees. Only those whose conditions are controlled will be inoculated, she stressed.

She said the DOH will soon issue guidelines on the vaccination of Group A3.

"We are finalizing our protocol so we can release it within the day," Vergeire said.

Meanwhile, the DOH has given senior citizens in the National Capital Region (NCR) until March 31, 2021 to register for vaccination. Those outside NCR have until April 5, 2021.

Active health workers still have until the end of March to register.

Vergeire said ramping up vaccinations was identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases a key strategy in slowing down Covid-19 transmission in the country.

Learning from the experience of other countries, Vergeire said this would be done by conducting simultaneous vaccinations of several priority groups instead of completing Group A1 first. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)

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