News Roundup 06 July 2021
Jul 06, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines sees 4,114 new coronavirus infections | PHILSTAR.COM – Local health authorities on Tuesday reported 4,114 more COVID-19 infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,445,832.
- Active cases: 49,613 or 3.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 6,086, pushing total to 1,370,923
- Deaths: 104, bringing total to 25,296
COVID-19 among top causes of death in 2020, but heart disease still biggest killer | PHILSTAR.COM – COVID-19 was among the top causes of death in the Philippines last year, but heart disease was still the biggest killer, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Preliminary data from the PSA show that 30,140 people died due to COVID-19 in 2020, accounting for 4.9% of the total registered deaths that year. Among the 17 regions, Metro Manila logged 13,000 fatalities due to COVID-19 last year or 43.1% of all deaths due to the contagious respiratory disease. Calabarzon came in second with 7,000 deaths and Central Luzon at third with 2,690 deaths. In Metro Manila, Quezon City reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths with 2,640 fatalities due to the disease or 20.3% of all COVID-19 deaths in the region. Incidentally, Quezon City had also logged the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila. Ischaemic heart diseases, however, proved to be more fatal than COVID-19 in 2020, topping the list of causes of death with 105,114 people succumbing due to these.
Pacquiao told to probe Marawi rehab effort for more tales of corruption under Duterte | INQUIRER.NET – Residents of Marawi, who were displaced in the 2017 siege by Islamic State (IS)-linked militants, called on Senator Manny Pacquiao to scrutinize the ongoing rehabilitation of the war-torn city, which allegedly stinks of corruption. Drieza Lininding, chair of the Marawi-based Moro Consensus Group, said Monday that Pacquiao could uncover cans of worms in how public funds were spent for projects aimed at supposedly restoring the country’s lone Islamic city to its old glory. “Senator Manny, take a look at the Marawi rehabilitation and you will discover many anomalies, the reason why four years after the siege, residents have yet to return to their homes,” Lininding said in a statement. The Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), which is composed of various government agencies, has been assigned to coordinate the rehabilitation of the city after a fierce five-month battle between government forces and IS militants starting May 23, 2017. The war displaced at least 350,000 civilians and destroyed the city’s main commercial district. Lininding said Pacquiao could uncover many irregularities “if he will investigate each agency” under the TFBM headed by Housing Secretary Eduardo del Rosario. For instance, a government agency whose mandate is housing is implementing a road project, said Lininding, apparently referring to the National Housing Authority. Lininding alleged that a single contractor, which he did not identify, had been favored with implementing several projects costing millions of pesos. “These are just the tip of the iceberg. You will discover many more anomalies in Marawi. Even if you wake up late to the truth, we believe that you can be a big help to fight corruption,” Lininding told Pacquiao.
WHO urges DOH to be ‘more cautious’ in its COVID-19 messaging | Manila Bulletin – The World Health Organization (WHO) representative to the Philippine has cautioned the Department of Health (DOH) in its messaging to the public, as classifying the country as “low risk” for COVID-19 may have negative implications. WHO representative to the Philippine Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe reminded on Tuesday, July 6, that COVID-19 continues to threaten countries at this point in time. “Classifying any country as low-risk has implications. We are in a pandemic. The virus is everywhere and we are seeing countries experiencing surges,” Abeyasinghe said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel. “Are we at low risk of future COVID cases? No, we are not at low risk of future cases because this is a pandemic. We are dealing with a very delicate situation,” he added. Abeyasinghe believes that the DOH needs to be “more cautious” in giving COVID-19 updates to the public. “I think we need to be more cautious. It is not costly to err on the side of caution. We need to be consistent in our messaging. The public needs to be aware that the risk remains, they need to follow the protocols, they need to follow the minimum health standards,” he said. “Giving them wrong messaging could result in lower compliance in those minimum health standards,” he added.
