News Roundup 15 January 2022
Jan 15, 2022 • 5 min Read
Philippines breaks record COVID-19 cases again with 39,004 new infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The Philippines logged 39,004 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, topping the previous record of 37,207 cases set just a day before. The new infections bring the country’s total caseload to 3,168,379. Of this, 280,813 are currently sick. The country also reported that 43 more patients died due to COVID-19, pushing the death toll to 52,858, while recoveries increased by 23,613 to 2,834,708. The positivity rate stood at 47.1% out of 78,774 tests, which is way above the 5% threshold set by the World Health Organization for opening economies. Fourteen laboratories did not submit data to the DOH.
Coalition wants transparent Comelec appointment | PHILSTAR.COM – Various civic, academic, youth, women, religious and other sectoral groups have called on President Duterte to make his appointment process to fill three looming vacancies in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) inclusive and transparent. Participate – which describes itself as a coalition of 2,500 members from civic, academic, youth, women, religious, and other sectoral groups – calls on Duterte to make the appointment process open for the replacements of Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas, Commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Antonio Kho Jr. All three are expected to retire in February 2022, less than three months before the May elections. “These three vacancies to be left by the outgoing members of the Commission are crucial, especially with the ongoing election preparations and the challenges that confront and confound us as we are holding elections under peculiar circumstances due to the current COVID-19 pandemic,” Participate said in its unity statement. The coalition suggested that Duterte create a search and selection committee with representatives from various sectors of society, including the election stakeholders, who would provide a shortlist of candidates for his consideration. The group also wants the President to provide the public with a clear set of criteria to be used in the selection and appointment of the Comelec’s chairperson and commissioners.
DOH confirms community transmission of Omicron variant in Metro Manila | INQUIRER.NET – The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Saturday the community transmission of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Metro Manila. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while genome sequencing efforts could not keep up with the spike in cases, the DOH has already determined that there are already local cases of Omicron and that the trend of infections show the characteristics of the said variant. “Dito sa National Capital Region, we are seeing community transmission dito sa NCR ng Omicron variant. Bagama’t hindi nakakahabol ang ating whole genome sequencing, we already have determined that there are local cases already,” Vergeire said at the Laging Handa public briefing. (We are seeing community transmission of the Omicron variant here in Metro Manila. Even though the whole genome sequencing could not keep up, we have already determined that there are local cases of the said variant.) “Sa nakikita nating trend ngayon, ito po ang charactheristic talaga ng Omicron variant, ‘yung mabilis na pagkalat, ‘yung very steep rise in the number of cases, ‘yung doubling time na every two days na napakabilis, ito po lahat ay charactheristics ng Omicron variant,” she added. (Based on the trend we are seeing, these are really the characteristics of the Omicron variant: the fast spread, steep rise in the number of cases, and doubling time of two days.) The DOH previously said it was only “assuming” that Omicron is already in the communities, noting that it still needs definitive evidence before formally declaring an Omicron-driven community transmission. Based on guidelines from the World Health Organization, the nature of infections must meet three criteria before community transmission can be declared: there should be a large number of cases not linkable to transmission chains, an observed increase in cases detected through laboratory surveillance, and multiple unrelated clusters in several areas of the country. Meanwhile, Vergeire said that COVID-19 cases are also increasing in other regions outside Metro Manila.
DOST eyes VCO nasal inhaler, mouth wash vs COVID-19 | Manila Bulletin – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Saturday, Jan. 15, announced that it is exploring the potential benefits of virgin coconut oil (VCO) as a nasal inhaler and mouth wash to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In an interview over DZBB, DOST Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) Executive Director Dr. Jaime Montoya said they are currently studying which part of VCO “is making a good effect.” “Gumagawa rin po tayo ng mga pag-aaral ito po ay para makaiwas naman sa COVID-19… Ang ating ginagawa ngayon, tinitingnan po natin sya as a mouth wash at sa ilong, yung nasal inhaler [kasi] ito po yung ruta na dinadaanan ng virus. Tingnan natin kung pinapatay nya yung virus, [baka] pagpasok ng virus ay patay na agad (We’re also doing studies to prevent COVID-19. What we’re doing now, we are looking at VCO as a mouth wash and as nasal inhaler, because that’s the route of the virus. Let’s see if it will kills the virus),” Montoya explained. Montoya noted that two finished research and clinical studies showed that VCO helped reduce the severity of symptoms of patients with mild COVID-19 infections. “Tapos na po yung pag-aaral. Dalawang aral po yung pag-aaral na yan. Yung una po tiningnan na yung VCO talagang pinapatay yung virus at napatunayang 60 to 90 percent pinapatay nya yung virus lalo na pag konti pa lang o maaga pa lang (The two studies are already fished. The first one looked if the VCO could kill the virus and it was proven that it actually kills 60 to 90 percent of the virus, especially during early symptoms),” he said. “Ikalawa tiningnan po natin kung syang makatutulong para maibsan ang mga sintomas na nararamdaman ng mga may COVID-19, yung mga suspect po na mild cases… napatunayan na nakatutulong po, malaki po ang diperensya ng mga nabigyan ng VCO at hindi nabigyan (Second, we looked at weather it can help alleviate COVID-19 symptoms felt by those with mild COVID-19 and suspected COVID-19 patients… It has been proven that it helps, there’s a big difference between those who were given VCO and those who were not),” he furthered.
