News Roundup 20 September 2020
Sep 20, 2020 • 4 min Read
New 3,311 infections bring PH COVID-19 count to 286,743 cases | INQUIRER.NET – The number of coronavirus disease cases in the country is now at 286,743 as the Department of Health reported additional 3,311 cases of infection on Sunday. As of 4 p.m., the DOH also reported additional 20,021 recoveries (625 from routine reports and 19,396 time-based recoveries), which bring the total number of patients who have recovered from the disease to 229,865. Meanwhile, there are 55 additional deaths logged, taking the total fatality count to 4,984. With the recoveries and deaths removed from the tally, there are now 51,894 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, according to the DOH.
Robredo: Periodic assessment better than a state of calamity until 2021 | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo believes it would be better for the government to make periodic assessments of the country’s fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic than extend the declaration of a state of calamity in the entire country until 2021. “Sa panahon ng krisis, inaasahan natin na kailangan ng deklarasyon na ito…Pero hindi ko lang alam kung ano iyong basehan na hanggang 2021. Sana ano na lang, parang may periodic sana na pag-assess. May periodic sanang pag-assess kung kinakailangan pa,” Robredo said Sunday during her weekly radio program. Robredo said this after President Duterte extended the state of calamity for one more year due to the ongoing health crisis. The declaration will be effective until September 12, 2021, “unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstances may warrant.” “Kasi gusto bang sabihin na ganoon katagal iyong emergency situation natin? Kasi kung ganoon katagal, parang nakakatakot para sa atin,” Robredo added. As of Sunday, the country has a total of 286,743 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 229,865 recoveries and 4,984 deaths.
‘Upwelling’ due to rain likely cause of Manila Bay fish kill — BFAR | PHILSTAR.COM – Deep seawater rising to the surface, a phenomenon called upwelling, very likely caused the fish kill in the Baseco area of Manila Bay, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said Saturday. BFAR said this as its water quality testing found a low level of dissolved oxygen in samples collected in the area. “It is highly possible that an oceanographic phenomenon called upwelling or overturn caused the depletion of dissolved oxygen causing fish mortality of estimated 10 kilograms of fish on September 15, 2020 in Manila Bay, particularly in Baseco area,” BFAR said in a statement to reporters. BFAR said that upwelling happens when deep, cold water wells up and replaces warmer water on the surface after rainfall. “The upwelling water activity draws up sediments from the sea bottom bringing up organic load, which competes with fishes in consuming available dissolved oxygen. When this happens, dissolved oxygen level which is important for fish to survive becomes depleted,” it also said.
Binay doubts public school teachers ready for online classes | Manila Bulletin – Sen. Nancy Binay doubts that public school teachers are ready to teach their students via online when classes starts on Oct. 5 due to the lack of faster Internet connectivity in the Philippines. With the Internet speed in the Philippine’s not still comparable to other neighboring countries, Binay said she expects conducting online classes would be difficult for most of the country’s public school teachers. “I raised that during a (Senate) hearing with the Department of Education (DepEd) because right now local government units (LGUs) and even private companies are trying to raise funds to buy gadgets for the teachers and students, but if there is no connectivity, the concept of face-to-face learning through technology is still elusive,” Binay said in an interview over Radio DZRH Sunday. The senator said she believes public school teachers would only be able to carry out a combination of teaching modules using printed materials and television (TV) programs to teach students.
Govt urged: Act on EU call | The Manila Times – The Philippine government on Saturday was urged to address the European Parliament’s concerns about the alleged abuses and the “deteriorating” human rights situation in the country amid warnings that ignoring these could lead to further job losses and the temporary suspension of the grant of trade preferences to the Philippines. The Associated Labor Unions (ALU) asked the government to “take the right action and take more steps in addressing the issues raised by a resolution that was passed by the European Parliament on Sept. 16, 2020.” “We have workers and their families behind every product being sold in the EU (European Union) market. If the Philippine government fails to make the right response to the resolution we will lose the market, which [will] result in more unemployment and loss of business opportunities,“ said ALU Vice President Gerard Seno.
