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(BusinessWorld) THE INTER-AGENCY Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has raised the alert levels of several areas in the country beginning today until the end of the month to better manage the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, according to the Presidential Palace.

Alert Level 4 was raised in Kalinga, Ifugao, Mt. Province, and Northern Samar, meaning establishments or activities there will only be allowed to operate at a maximum of 10% capacity for indoor venues and only for fully vaccinated individuals, and 30% capacity for outdoor venues.

It also disallows people under the age of 18 and over 65 from going outside the house. People with underlying illnesses and pregnant women are likewise prohibited from leaving their homes.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire noted during an online news briefing that in these areas, the healthcare utilization rate has hit over 70%.

She pointed out that there are other areas in the country which have reach similar utilization rates but whose Alert Level has not been increased. This was because they also looked at the bed utilization rates and saw that these were only around 30% to 50% for COVID patients.

In comparison, the areas now under Alert Level 4 were allocating close to 80% of their beds to COVID patients and were having a difficult time coping… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday welcomed the US State Department study that found China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea as “unlawful” and “inconsistent” with international law.

In a statement, the DFA said the study is consistent with the vision statement issued by the Philippines and the US on Nov. 16, 2021, “which states that the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea are inconsistent with the international law of the sea as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

The DFA said the study was also consistent “with the unanimous July 12, 2016 Award in the South China Sea Arbitration (Republic of Philippines v. People’s Republic of China), a decision that, pursuant to the Convention, is legally binding on the Philippines and the PRC.”

The 47-page research paper titled “Limits in the Seas,” prepared by the US State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, said that Beijing has no basis under international law for its maritime claims in the region.

“The overall effect of these maritime claims is that the PRC unlawfully claims sovereignty or some form of exclusive jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea,” read the executive summary of the report… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday recorded a new all-time high 291,618 active COVID-19 cases, or people who currently have the disease.

Of this number, 277,833 have mild symptoms, 9,015 have no symptoms, 2,979 are in moderate condition, 1,487 have severe symptoms, and 304 are in critical condition.

The active case count is 8.7% of the nationwide tally, which rose to 3,357,083 after 32,744 more people got infected.

Of the new infections, 31,456 (96%) occurred within the past 14 days or from Jan. 8 to 21, the DOH said. The regions with the highest number of new cases in that period were Metro Manila (6,917 or 22%), Calabarzon (6,398 or 20%), and Central Luzon (4,122 or 13%).

Recoveries topped three million at 3,012,156 – which is 89.7% of the case count – with 16,385 new survivors.

Meanwhile, the death toll climbed to 53,309 – or 1.59% of the total cases – after 156 more people lost their lives to the COVID-19.

Of the additional deaths, 66 occurred this month while 89 were in 2021: nine in December, seven in November, 19 in October, 27 in September, 13 in August, eight in July, and two each in June, May, and January… Read More

(BusinessWorld) THE PHILIPPINES reported 492 more coronavirus infections involving the highly mutated Omicron variant, bringing the total to 535.

In a statement, the Department of Health (DoH) said 69% of 714 samples sequenced by the Philippine Genome Center on Jan. 13 to 14, tested positive for Omicron. It added that 332 of the patients were local, while 160 were returning migrant Filipinos.

The agency said 68% of the local cases were from Metro Manila, which has been struggling to contain a fresh surge in infections.

Seventy-six patients came from the Calabarzon region, 11 from Central Luzon, five from Central Visayas, two each from Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Davao region, Soccsksargen and the Cordillera Administrative Region, and one each from Ilocos, Mimaropa and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Health department said three of the new Omicron cases were still active, two have died, and 467 patients have recovered. The agency said it was verifying 20 other cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire on Tuesday said Omicron had become the predominant variant especially in the National Capital Region.

DoH on Wednesday posted 22,958 coronavirus infections, bringing the total to 3.29 million. The death toll increased by 82 to 53,044, while recoveries rose by 36,611 to 2.97 million, it said in a bulletin… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country has reported its first two fatalities linked to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Wednesday.

In a message to reporters, the DOH said the patients were both unvaccinated senior citizens who had pre-existing medical conditions.

“Both were detected during the latest whole genome sequencing. Both deaths were aged more than 60 years,” the agency added.

The two deaths were logged in Metro Manila and in Central Luzon, it noted.

The DOH stressed that while most Omicron cases present asymptomatic and mild disease, data showed that the elderly, those with underlying illnesses, and those who have yet to get their COVID-19 shots are still at risk.

492 additional cases
Health authorities also detected 492 more cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, comprising over half (68.9%) of the latest samples sequenced (714)… Read More

(PhilStar) The gap in the revenue-sharing of the music business and the fast-evolving online music distribution has paved the way for the rise of digital aggregators and prompted artists to be more experimental in how they expand their audience reach.

Cyrus Chen, head of music aggregator TuneCore in Southeast Asia (SEA), noted how the “rift in the music industry” continues to occur in the past few years.

“Scottish-American singer, songwriter, David Byrne back in 2015 spoke about the lack of transparency from major labels, more specifically calling out labels only giving artists 15 percent of earnings from a single release,” he said in an e-mail interview with The STAR… Read More

(SunStar) UNVACCINATED and partially vaccinated individuals in Metro Manila are not allowed even to board flights, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Caap Chief of Staff Attorney Danjun Lucas said they implemented a two-pronged approach for the enforcement of the “no vaccination, no ride/entry” policy issued by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in a bid to restrict the mobility of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals amid the spike of Covid-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He said security personnel were conducting initial screening of the vaccination cards of all the passengers entering the airports, while the ticketing staff will conduct another round of verification before they receive their boarding pass.

He reiterated that a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the individual’s second dose.

Lucas said only persons with medical conditions that prevent their full Covid-19 vaccination as shown by a duly-signed medical certificate, and those who will buy or avail themselves of essential goods and services are exempted from the policy in accordance to the DOTr’s order.
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(**Agency**) THE PHILIPPINES aims to fully vaccinate 77 million people against the coronavirus by the end of March, according to the presidential palace, as the government tries to boost defenses against more contagious variants.

“We expect 77 million Filipinos to be fully vaccinated by the end of the first quarter given the rate of our vaccine rollout,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles told a news briefing on Tuesday, citing vaccine czar Carlito G. Galvez, Jr.

About 90 million people will have been fully protected against the coronavirus by end-June, he added.

Mr. Nograles said the government injected an average of 987,045 doses daily on Jan. 10 to 14, with about 2.5 million more people having been fully inoculated.

“While these numbers are very encouraging, moving forward, the government plans to concentrate on regions and areas with more unvaccinated people to ensure that a greater proportion of our population in the provinces are protected from COVID,” he added.

He said the government expects that all registered voters will have been vaccinated against the coronavirus before the May 2022 elections… Read More