News Roundup 08 January 2022
Jan 08, 2022 • 4 min Read
Philippines records highest COVID-19 cases in a day | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines recorded on Saturday its highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day since the pandemic began. The Department of Health reported that the country logged 26,458 new coronavirus infections, surpassing the previous peak during the Delta-driven surge of 26,303 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 2,936,875. The DOH also reported 1,656 recoveries, bringing the total number of people who got well from the disease to 2,782,723. Active cases are at its highest in nearly three months with 102,017 people still dealing with a coronavirus infection, according to the DOH. As new coronavirus infections surge to its highest ever, which the government parly blamed on the local transmission of the Omicron variant, some experts are calling for the government’s pandemic task force to escalate the COVID-19 alert level over areas with increasing cases, particularly virus epicenter Metro Manila.
Arrest the unvaccinated? That may be unconstitutional, CHR says | PHILSTAR. COM – President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to arrest those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 may be illegal, unconstitutional and violative of human rights, the Commission on Human Rights said as it noted that there is no law criminalizing being unvaccinated. CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said in a statement that while the 1987 Constitution does provide that movement can be restricted in the interest of national security, public safety or public health, a law is necessary to make this restriction legal. “Presently, there is no law that makes being unvaccinated a crime, nor is there any law that would satisfy the constitutional provision on curtailing freedom of movement,” De Guia said. She went on to say that warrantless arrests go against the constitutional guarantee of due process, as these are only permitted when someone is caught in the act of committing a crime, during hot pursuit, or during the re-arrest of escaped prisoners. “The present directive to arrest unvaccinated individuals on-the-spot does not satisfy the said exemptions, aside from the fact that, as mentioned, no crime is being committed,” De Guia said. She added that the government should consider the consequences of arresting the unvaccinated as detention facilities are already congested which may further worsen the transmission of COVID-19.
PGH now in ‘crisis mode’ as 310 health workers contract COVID-19 | INQUIRER.NET – The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is now operating in a “crisis mode” as nearly 40 percent of its COVID-19 health workers are either infected with the SARS-CoV-2 or are now in quarantine after being exposed to the virus, the hospital’s spokesperson said Saturday. According to Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, the PGH currently has around 2,000 health workers and ancillary staff members involved in its COVID-19 operations. He said that 310 of them have tested positive for COVID-19 during the past week. “We found that for every 1 health worker who had COVID, about 3-4 workers have high-risk exposure to either a patient, household member or co-worker,” he said in a Viber message. “Roughly 40% of the workforce are infected or quarantined because of COVID. If conventional quarantine protocol is used, the hospital will run out of doctors, nurses, and support staff to take care of patients… We are operating in a crisis mode,” he added. According to Del Rosario, some critical areas have as high as 80 percent of their workforce pulled out because of COVID-19 infection or exposure. Del Rosario also noted at the Laging Handa public briefing that the percentage of health workers at PGH who were infected with the virus and those who need to be quarantined is high. “Napakalaki pong bilang ‘yun. Lalo na sa key areas, napipilay po kami. Marami ang nagka-quarantine, kailangan iquarantine dahil na-expose sila. ” he added. (That is a huge number. Our operations are being crippled in other key areas. Many are quarantined or need to be quarantined because they are exposed.)
PGH postpones booster appointments due to lack of staff | Manila Bulletin – The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) postponed the administration of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) booster shots as it does not have enough hospital staff. “The PGH Booster dose activity for January is postponed indefinitely due to the reduced manpower availability and the deployment of hospital staff to essential, core hospital services,” PGH said in an advisory released Jan. 6. The hospital encouraged the unvaccinated staff of those who missed their second dose or booster shot to avail of their next COVID-19 dose at the available vaccination posts in their respective local government units or malls. PGH, the largest COVID-19 referral hospital in the country, has temporarily shut down its maternity ward amid the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
