News Roundup 02 May 2021
May 02, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines sees 8,346 new COVID-19 cases, total at 1.05 million | PHILSTAR.COM – Health officials on Sunday said 8,346 more Filipinos have contracted the COVID-19, pushing the overall count to 1,054,983. Today’s numbers are still relatively high from the usual reported before the surge hit in March. The Department of Health said all laboratories were operational on April 30, 2021, but seven did not turn in test results. Active cases also decreased by 5,603 from the 72,248 yesterday.
- Active cases: 71,472 or 6.8% of the total
- Recoveries: 9,072, bringing the number to 966,080
- Deaths: 77, or now 17,431 in total
Philippine Medical Association: Prescribe ivermectin vs COVID-19 only at hospitals with permits | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippine Medical Association has told doctors not to prescribe the ivermectin as a supposed COVID-19 treatment outside of hospitals given compassionate use permits by the Food and Drug Administration. PMA, the country’s primary medical association, reiterated warnings by health officials that current evidence on using the anti-parasitic drug to treat COVID-19 remains inconclusive. This came after Rep. Mike Defensor (Anakalusugan party-list) and Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (Sagip party-list) distributied ivermectin to Quezon City residents. “[It] may not be prescribed by any physician outside the designated authorized hospitals,” PMA said on Saturday. “Its prescription as a prophylactic medicine against COVID-19 is strongly not advised.” FDA has granted compassionate use permit to five hospitals, but it has not disclosed the names of the facilities to date. The local regulator has earned criticism on the move too, after also telling the public that using the drug can be highly toxic. Photos of prescriptions from what was initially dubbed the “Ivermectin Pan-three” — a play on community pantreis — showed the pieces of paper did not include information on the doctors who prescribed them. Recipients were also made to sign a waiver before receiving the antiparasitic drugs. The doctors’ group said its infectious medicine specialists have reviewed case studies on the drug as a potential treatment. They said it showed “low confidence certainty due to high risk of bias and low overall quality of evidence.” “PMA reiterates its warning that FDA already cautioned that manufacturer and dispensing of unregistered drugs would be prosecuted,” it said. “The unlawful sale of the drug product brought abroad but not registered with the FDA is also illegal.”
Gov’t to deploy 5,754 more contact tracers in Metro Manila | INQUIRER.NET – The government is set to hire and deploy over 5,000 contact tracers in Metro Manila for three months starting this May, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Sunday. The DILG said it has inked a memorandum circular with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on the guidelines for the hiring, training and deployment a total of 5,754 contact tracers for three months with a minimum wage of P537 per day. So far, 13,304 have applied for the position and 2,696 have been assessed and qualified. “This deployment is part of our continuous effort to intensify our contact tracing program to contain Covid-19. Simula na ng kanilang pagtatrabaho bilang contact tracers at simula na rin ng dagdag na alalay at pag-asa para sa ating mga kababayan na makakabangon tayong muli mula sa pandemiyang ito,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.
COVID-19 vaccination rate must be ramped up to 300,000 a day —Robredo camp | Manila Bulletin – Filipinos will need to wait until 2031 to attain herd immunity against coronavirus disease if the government fails to vaccinate at least 300,000 people every day, Vice President Leni Robredo’s camp said on Sunday, May 2. Lawyer Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesman, warned that for the country to reach herd immunity, it has to vaccinate more than 300,000 Filipinos every day, or two million people weekly. Right now, with its limited COVID-19 vaccine supply, the country is only vaccinating an average of 35,000 daily. “So, kailangan natin mapabilisin na almost 10 times ‘yung ating rate ng vaccination pero sabi ni Secretary (Carlito) Galvez (Jr.) by August daw posible na every week 2 to 3 million ang ating navavaccinate. Kung magagawa iyon, mabuti (So, we need to make our vaccination rate faster by almost 10 times. Secretary Galvez said that by August, it’s possible to vaccinate 2 to 3 million every week. If we can do that, that’s good),” he said during Robredo’s weekly radio show. If the government can start inoculating two to three million Filipinos a week by August, the country will attain herd immunity before the end of the year, the spokesman said.
