News Roundup 19 June 2020
Jun 19, 2020 • 3 min Read
Pagpugay sa Kaarawan ng Pambansang Bayani
Philippines’ COVID-19 cases surpass 28,000, deaths at 1,130 | PHILSTAR. COM – The number of people sickened by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Philippines passed the 28,000 mark Friday, with majority of the newly-validated cases reported in Metro Manila. Some 661 cases were added to the country’s infection tally Friday. This brought to 28,459 the total number of people who have contracted COVID-19 in the Philippines. The department also registered 288 new recoveries. This raised the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 7,378. But 14 more patients died from the severe respiratory illness, pushing the toll to 1,130.
PhilHealth chief failing to cleanup agency — Roque | PHILSTAR.COM –The Palace on Friday accused Philippine Health Insurance Corp. President and CEO Ricardo Morales of attempting “to divert attention from his failure to cleanup the agency.” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque went on to say that Morales is operating under the assumption that only courts can remove corrupt PhilHealth officials, “when in truth, he has administrative powers to suspend and remove them.” He again questioned whether Morales was still suited to head PhilHealth or if he would “better utilized elsewhere.” Roque and Morales have gone back and forth over irregularities within the state-run agency and the implementation of the Universal Health Care Law.
Robredo to help in COVID-19 response, with or without gov’t post — spox | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo will work and help fight the coronavirus pandemic in any way possible — with or without an official government position in the interagency task force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), her spokesperson said. “She will serve in whatever capacity she is needed. But more importantly, she will continue to discharge her mandate to work for the welfare of all Filipinos regardless of what designation she is given, what resources are given to her, and what support she receives from the administration,” he added.
Central Visayas areas under GCQ except Cebu and Talisay cities — DOH | Manila Bulletin – Most areas in Central Visayas remain under the general community quarantine (GCQ) except for Cebu City which is under the strictest measure, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the pronouncement after a report circulated that the entire Central Visayas region was placed under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) over the increasing number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. “Wala pong katotohanan iyan [There’s no truth to that]. Ang Region 7 is still under GCQ except for Cebu City, which is under ECQ, and Talisay City, which is under modified ECQ,” Vergeire told reporters.Race for vaccine could leave poor countries behind | The Manila Times – LONDON: As the race for a vaccine against the new coronavirus intensifies, rich countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunized first — leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccine before the pandemic ends. Earlier this month, the United Nations, International Red Cross and Red Crescent, and others said it was a “moral imperative” that everyone have access to a “people’s vaccine.” But such grand declarations are unenforceable, and, without a detailed strategy, the allocation of vaccines could be extremely messy.
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