News Roundup 24 March 2020
Mar 24, 2020 • 2 min Read
DOH: Coronavirus cases in PH leap to 501 | INQUIRER.NET – The confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines has soared to 501 as of Tuesday morning, the Department of Health (DOH) announced. “501 COVID-19 positive cases, 19 recoveries, 33 deaths,” Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said in a text message to INQUIRER.net. There were 462 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths as of Monday afternoon.
With world busy fighting coronavirus, China quietly builds installations on Philippine-claimed reefs | PHILSTAR.COM – While the rest of the world is busy battling the coronavirus pandemic, China, where the virus originated, has taken advantage of the countries’ preoccupation by building new facilities on Philippine-claimed territories in West Philippine Sea. On Friday, government-funded Chinese Academy of Sciences launched two research stations on Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) and Subi Reefs in Spratly Islands to “help scientists expand their research into deep sea ecology, geology, environment, material sciences and marine energy,” state-run Xinhua reported.
Pangilinan stresses accountability after grant of broad presidential powers | Manila Bulletin – The Senate version of the special presidential powers law, fully adopted by the House of Representatives, put some order, transparency, and accountability in the chaos in addressing the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19), opposition Senator Francis N. Pangilinan said Tuesday. Pangilinan said the Senate minority bloc would have voted “yes’’ in Monday’s special session ‘’but with serious reservations.’’
Online education on Covid-19 launched | The Manila Times – To “empower” the people in combating the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic through education, a group of teachers has launched an online education platform on the disease. ACT Philippines Secretary General Raymond Basilio said the teachers’ duty to educate now took the form of arming students and the public with accurate, sufficient and sustained information, so they could critically analyze the situation and act collectively to fight the pandemic. He added that the education program would be coursed primarily online through the ACT for People’s Health social media page. Basilio said the page would “feature video lectures, online classes, infographics and reports from the ground by basic education teachers, academics and experts on various fields.”
