News Roundup 06 August 2021
Aug 06, 2021 • 4 min Read
Philippines logs 10,623 new COVID-19 cases, highest daily rise in over 3 months | PHILSTAR.COM – Local health authorities on Friday reported 10,623 more COVID-19 infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,638,345. This is the highest single-day rise seen since April 16 when the Philippines recorded 10,726 new coronavirus cases. New deaths reported today are also the highest since April 9 when authorities reported 401 fatalities.
- Active cases: 74,297 or 4.5% of the total
- Recoveries: 3,127, pushing total to 1,535,375
- Deaths: 247, bringing total to 28,673
Pacquiao is undercard on PDP-Laban faction’s Go-Duterte ticket | PHILSTAR.COM – The faction of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is still giving Sen. Manny Pacquiao a fighting chance in the political ring, with them considering the boxer-lawmaker as one of their senatorial candidates for the 2022 elections. Pacquiao was president of the party until the Cusi-led faction declared positions vacant and elected the energy secretary its new president. President Rodrigo Duterte remains party chairman. “We consider Senator Pacquiao as one of our top senatorial candidates for PDP-Laban,” PDP-Laban secretary general Melvin Matibag told a news conference on Friday. This is despite the ongoing spat between the Cusi and Pacquiao factions of the PDP-Laban, both of which claim to be the legitimate administration party. Pacquiao, who is currently in the United States training for his August 21 bout with boxer Errol Spence, is strongly rumored to be eyeing the presidency, but the Cusi-led PDP-Laban has rendered him virtually powerless in his own party.
‘Somebody’s threats vs unvaccinated people triggered public fear’ – Isko | INQUIRER.NET – The reckless statements and threats made by “somebody” against unvaccinated individuals generated fear among the public, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said, following the chaos that ensued in vaccination sites in the city. “Unang-una, kasalanan na nga naming gobyerno. Bakit? E dapat yung bakuna noon pa dumating, e ngayon, natakot pa ata ang mga tao kasi may mga kiyaw kiyaw pa na ipakukulong sila, ‘di sila bibigyan ng ayuda ‘pag hindi bakunado, hindi sila palalabasin,” Moreno said in an interview on ANC. (First of all, it’s us in the government who are at fault. Why? Because the vaccines should have arrived a long time ago, people got scared because of remarks that they would be jailed, not given aid, and not allowed to go outside.) “I did not make that statement; somebody did. That generate[d] fear,” he added. “I’m not the type of person who will go out in the evening and keep pointing fingers [at] others. I always look [in] the mirror. As I have said, it’s (vaccination drive) not perfect, but it delivers the objective we are achieving,” he also said. While Moreno did not name names, President Rodrigo Duterte, in a speech last week, said he would ask the police to escort unvaccinated people back to their homes. Before this, Duterte also threatened arrest to those who refuse to get vaccinated.
Robredo calls anew for faster vaccination vs COVID-19 | Manila Bulletin – Vice President Leni Robredo reiterated the need to intensify efforts to vaccinate more Filipinos against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) due to the rise of the daily number of infections in the country. Robredo made the statement after the Department of Health (DOH) reported that the more contagious Delta variant has been detected in all cities and the lone municipality in Metro Manila, bringing the total number of persons infected by the said strain to 331 as of August 6. In her statement, the Vice President renewed her call to have a faster vaccination as her office continued to help local governments distribute their vaccine supply more efficiently. “Lalo na dahil may Delta variant, dapat bilisan talaga natin ‘yong deployment… Mas mabilis na deployment [ng bakuna], better for us (Especially with the Delta variant, we should speed up the deployment of vaccines. The faster, the better for us),” she said. “While ‘yong vaccines hindi naman assurance na hindi ka na mai-infect ng virus, at least nape-prevent niya ‘yong severity, saka nape-prevent niya ‘yong hospitalization (While the vaccines are not an assurance that you will not catch the virus, they at least prevent severe cases and hospitalization),” she added. The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has recently collaborated with the City Government of Iriga to launch IrigaVax Express. The program was an offshoot of the OVP’s Vaccine Express initiative and aimed to cover 5,000 senior citizens who may get vaccinated in one of the three cluster sites, whichever is closest to their barangay.
