News Roundup 14 April 2021
Apr 14, 2021 • 4 min Read
Coronavirus cases in Philippines hit 892,880 with 8,122 new infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Wednesday recorded 8,122 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 892,880.
- Active cases: 173,047 or 19.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 501, pushing total to 704,386
- Deaths: 162, bringing total to 15,4472
COVID-19 fatality rate in Metro Manila climbs to 5.36% — OCTA | PHILSTAR.COM – The case fatality rate in Metro Manila is now nearly three times higher than in March, an independent panel of experts studying the COVID-19 crisis in the country said Wednesday. Members of the OCTA Research team in a report said the proportion of persons dying from COVID-19 in the National Capital Region is now at 5.36% against the 1.82% last month. “While the more recent CFR is based on a much smaller sample size of 284 deaths, and the CFR may still decrease as more data comes in, the possibility of an increase in CFR should not be ignored,” the group said. Per a tracker by the Department of Health, the capital region continued to tally the highest number of deaths in the last two weeks compared with other regions in the country. By April 13, it showed Metro Manila with 311 fatalities, Central Luzon with 162 and CALABARZON with 142. The City of Manila accounted for 73 of those deaths, followed by Quezon City with 66, and Pasig with 41. Experts attributed the rise to factors such as an already overwhelmed health care system, as well as the presence of COVID-19 variants which they said could be more deadly. More of the elderly are dying, they also said, at 28.6% of patients 65 and above. This is up from 11.8% in March. Deaths among 60-64-year-olds are at 16.4% from 5.7%, while the deaths among those 50 to 59 are at 8.7% from an earlier 2.7%. OCTA said senior citizens should be prioritized on getting medical care “to be assured they receive timely interventions.”
Locsin orders filing of protest over swarming of 240 China vessels in WPS | INQUIRER.NET – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday ordered the filing of a diplomatic protest over the swarming of 240 Chinese militia vessels found in various parts of the West Philippine Sea. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) reported late Tuesday that around 240 Chinese militia vessels are still inside the country’s territorial waters. While Locsin has yet to receive this report from the task force himself, he directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), over Twitter, to “fire” a protest. “I haven’t heard anything from the f*cking NTF-WPS but I’ll take ABS-CBN News’s word for it. Changing my policy of acting only on NTF requests. @DFAPHL FIRE A DIPLOMATIC PROTEST NOW,” Manila’s top diplomat said, reacting to a news report about the Chinese vessels. The DFA already summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian to express “utmost displeasure” over the “illegal” and lingering presence of Chinese vessels at the Julian Felipe Reef in the West Philippines Sea. In summoning the Chinese envoy, the Philippines side reiterated its “firm demand” for China to ensure the “immediate departure of all its vessels from the area of Julian Felipe Reef and other maritime zones of the Philippines.”
Spicy porridge fit for ‘Lugaw Queen’ Robredo | Manila Bulletin – Alluding to being called “Lugaw (porridge) Queen” by her detractors, Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday, April 14, posted a photo of her lunch — spicy lugaw with tokwa’t baboy (tofu and pork). Robredo said her lunch of lugaw accompanied her as she volunteered in her office’s newest initiative, the Bayanihan E-Konsulta. “Spicy lugaw with tokwa’t baboy for lunch while volunteering as a chat agent for our Bayanihan e-Konsulta patients. We’re trying to catch up with our backlogs dahil andaming pasyente (there are many patients),” she said on her Facebook page. Robredo’s second daughter, Tricia, earlier posted about her mother manning one of the lines as a “call center agent” for the day. Last week, the Bayanihan E-Konsult had received 10,830 requests for medical consultations with the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) volunteer doctors. But even after taking a break on Monday to deal with the backlogs, Robredo admitted that it was taking their team a long time to address everyone’s concerns. This is not the first time Robredo played along with her detractors, who have been calling her “lugaw queen” since her supporters decided to sell porridge to raise funds during the 2016 vice presidential race.
