News Roundup 18 January 2022
Jan 18, 2022 • 5 min Read
Philippines logs 28,471 more COVID-19 infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health recorded 28,471 additional COVID-19 infections, bringing the number of active cases to 284,458. This was the first time in a week that the tally was below 30,000. Cases are usually low every Tuesday because of fewer tests done over the weekend. Active cases accounted for 8.7% of the country’s total caseload at 3,270,758. The death toll climbed to 52,962 after 34 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 34,892 to 2,933,338. According to the DOH, 97% of the additional cases occurred from January 5 to January 18. The regions with most cases in the recent two weeks were Metro Manila (36%), Calabarzon (24%) and Central Luzon (11%). The positivity rate was 43.4% out of 51,738 tests. The rate was way above the 5-percent threshold of the World Health Organization for opening economies. Five laboratories did not submit data to the DOH.
Pangilinan: Delivery riders deserve access to PhilHealth, SSS | PHILSTAR.COM – Delivery riders should have access to work benefits like government health insurance and social security, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said, noting that riders face risks like other workers do. Delivery riders are considered gig workers or independent contractors for app-based delivery services. Because of restrictions on movement brought by the pandemic, many have shifted to having food and other supplies delivered but riders have also complained of delayed salaries, unpaid incentives and benefits and the non-payment of accident insurance. “They interact with different people everyday for work despite the threat of contracting COVID-19,” Pangilinan, who is running for vice president, said. Last year, the state-run provident fund SSS said that riders working for door-to-door and food delivery platforms to consider signing up for the agency’s insurance coverage, given risks in their jobs. The Department of Labor and Employment said in July 2021 that delivery riders can be classified as either employees or as independent conractors, depending on their contracts. “The contract or agreement shall stipulate the following provisions, including but not limited to the payment of fair and equitable compensation, which shall not be lower than the prevailing minimum wage rates and facilitation of registration and coverage under SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG,” it also said in a statement. It also said in a labor advisory that “any complaint or grievance of delivery riders or digital platform company shall be settled and resolved through conciliation, mediation, inspection, or arbitration, whichever is applicable, under existing rules and regulations.”
Robredo wants barangay, SK polls to be held as scheduled, bats for capacity building | Manila Bulletin – Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo believes the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections should not be postponed again because this would deny citizens their choice of leaders. Robredo, an opposition leader, noted the democratic process in the conduct of elections, where the people can make their voices be heard. “Ang eleksyon kasi hindi lang itong simpleng pagluklok di ba, hindi lang siya simpleng pagluklok ng nga opisyal sa posisyon pero isa itong democratic process na pinapakinggan ‘yung boses ng lahat (An election is not only simply electing an official to a post but it is a democratic process where the voices of everyone are being heard),” she said. A youth participant of last Monday’s RizaLeni online meet-and-greet event raised a question about another possible postponement of the barangay and SK elections. This event, organized by the Robredo People’s Council, gave Vice President’s supporters a platform to discuss with her the most pressing issues in Rizal province. The presidential aspirant, in a reply, said that a new law needs to be passed by Congress to defer once more the barangay and SK elections.
Expert cites need to ‘reimmunize’ whenever there’s new concerning variant | INQUIRER.NET – The Philippines may need to “reimmunize” the public every time there is a concerning variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, a vaccine expert said Tuesday. Dr. Mario Jiz, head of the Immunology Department at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and a member of the country’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP), noted that the current vaccines we have are those developed against the original SARS-CoV-2 variant that was discovered in Wuhan, China in late 2019. “What we have seen in these circulating human coronaviruses is that pwede tayong magkasipon ulit after one year or so kasi bumababa ang ating immunity to that, so if ganoon ang pattern ng ating COVID, then it seems like there is a possibility na magwe-wane ang ating immune response maybe after a year, a year and a half, and that may be the efficacy period of our vaccines,” he said in a media forum hosted by the Department of Health. (What we have seen in these circulating human coronaviruses is that we can get colds again after one year or so because our level of immunity decreases, so if that is the pattern of COVID, it seems our immune response may wane maybe after a year or a year and half, and that may be the efficacy period of our vaccines.) “Parang sa flu din, potentially baka magkaroon tayo ng variant-specific na immunizations every now and then. Huwag naman sana every year, but every time that there is a concerning mutation or concerning variant that comes in, we may have to reimmunize or reboost our population,” he added. (Same with flu, we may have variant-specific immunizations every now and then. I hope it will not be yearly, but every time there is a concerning mutation or variant, we may have to reimmunize or reboost our population.)
