News Roundup 14 March 2021
Mar 14, 2021 • 4 min Read
DOH records 4,899 coronavirus cases, total now at 621,498 | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines on Sunday, March 14 recorded 4,899 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 621,498.
- Active cases: 48,157 or 7.7% of the total cases
- Recoveries: 13,371, pushing total to 560,512
- Deaths: 63, bringing total to 12,829
8K daily COVID-19 cases possible by end-March if surge unabated — OCTA member | PHILSTAR.COM – Daily coronavirus cases in the country could hit 8,000 by end of March if the surge underway is not controlled, a member of the OCTA Research team said Sunday. The rising number of infections in recent days — particularly the flat 5,000 on Saturday — saw the Philippines reaching new record highs. Prof. Guido David over ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo said the latest projection comes as the virus’ reproduction rate is now seen at 1.9 from just 1.6 in the previous week. “Aabot tayo ng mga 5,000 to 6,000 sa Metro Manila by end of March,” he said. “So ganoon kataas ‘yung trajectory, and sa buong Pilipinas puwede tayong umabot ng 7,000 to 8,000.” (Cases in Metro Manila per day could hit between 5,000 to 6,000 by end of March. That’s how high the trajectory is and for the entire country it could reach 7,000 to 8,000.) Saturday’s new cases was the highest so far since August 2020, the last time a nationwide surge was seen. But the 5,000 more Filipinos who contracted the COVID-19 came on top of crucial developments on the crisis at home: health officials said the variant first seen in Brazil has reached the country, 59 more had contracted the variant from the United Kingdom, 32 more got the one from South Africa, and they detected the first variant coming from the Philippines. David sought to stress that government, which had claimed an “excellent” response to the pandemic, should move to curb the surge as it may soon overwhelm hospitals.
CHR: Request for list of lawyers in ‘communist’ cases ‘unbecoming of police officer’ | INQUIRER.NET – The move of Calbayog police to request for the list of lawyers representing alleged “Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) personalities in Court” is “unbecoming of a police officer”, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Sunday. CHR spokesperson Atty Jacqueline Ann de Guia said this move of PLt. Fernando Calabria, Jr., who serves as chief of the Intelligence Unit of the Calbayog City Police Station, “is unbecoming of a police officer; transcends all legal and statutory basis; and threatens the legal profession by failing to appreciate the role of lawyers in upholding the people’s Constitutional rights.” “The right to an independent counsel of an accused, preferably of their own choice, is guaranteed by the Constitution, our laws, and the Rules of Court,” De Guia said in a statement. “By targeting lawyers, the concerned police officer equally threatens the rule of law,” De Guia added. Further, De Guia said the request is “significantly concerning” especially with cases of lawyer killings and red-tagging of personalities.
‘Common sense’: PH Red Cross lashes at DOH HTAC’s slow approval of saliva test’s public use | Manila Bulletin – Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon lashed Sunday, March 14, at the Department of Health’s Health Technology Assessment Council (DOH HTAC) for its failure to immediately approve the public use of their saliva reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. He said the DOH’s Council should urgently act on their request amid the surging cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). “Ang binabayad sa Red Cross sa swab test ay P3,409. Itong sa saliva test P2,000, kung ikaw ay may utang na malaki, P3,409 ang singil sayo bakit hindi gawin ng gobyerno ilipat dun sa P2,000 kalahati agad ang matitipid ng gobyerno sa pagbayad sa mamayang Pilipino na assured sa Universal Health Care. Common sense yan eh, baka may butas na ulo ng iba dyan hindi na nakakaisip ng matino (For swab test, the government is paying Red Cross P3, 409. This saliva test only costs P2,000, if you have huge debt, and you are charged with P3,409, why not the government chose the P2,000, the government can immediately save half in paying the Filipino people covered by the Universal Health Care. That’s common sense, maybe some of them have holes in their head that they cannot think clearly),” Gordon told the ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo in an interview.
Photo: Lake Pinatubo, Botolan, Zambales, Philippines
Photo Source: By ChrisTomnong – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6898828
