News Roundup 21 October 2020
Oct 21, 2020 • 4 min Read
With 1,509 new infections, Philippines coronavirus tally now at 362,243 | PHILSTAR.COM – The country’s coronavirus caseload breached 362,000 on Wednesday after the Department of Health logged 1,509 new cases. Of the total 362,243 cases registered by the DOH, 43,990 are active. Recovered patients are at 311,506, after 911 more recoveries were logged. Meanwhile, 60 new deaths were recorded by the health department Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll to 6,747.
Beijing should be granted ‘leeway’ in hiring Chinese workers for China-funded projects — Palace | PHILSTAR.COM – Malacañang on Wednesday said that the Chinese government should be allowed the flexibility to hire the workers of its choice for the two China-funded bridge projects in the country. “Let me highlight that these bridges are 100% donations from the Chinese government. So, I think that should give us the proper perspective. It’s being given to us 100%, we don’t pay back anything for the building of these bridges and that’s why we need to give them some flexibility in the personnel that they hire,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque told CNN Philippines’ “The Source.” Senators last week flagged the significant proportion of Chinese workers set to work on bridge construction projects in Metro Manila, citing the pressing need to hire Filipino workers whose livelihoods have been imperiled by COVID-19 crisis. Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Emil Sadain told a Senate panel that 31% of the workers for the Estrella-Pantaleon bridge are Chinese, while 69% are Filipino. The ratio for the Binondo-Intramuros bridge is more equally divided with 55% Filipino workers and 45% Chinese workers. “The general rule is foreigners should be hired only when there is not enough Filipinos able and with the capacity to perform the work,” Roque acknowledged, but appealed that the Chinese government be given “leeway” all the same.
Stranded OFWs due to testing delay caused by Red Cross-PhilHealth issue reach 6,000 | INQUIRER,NET – Over 6,000 overseas Filipino workers are now stranded in different quarantine facilities in Metro Manila after the Philippine Red Cross stopped conducting COVID-19 tests for the government, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday. Bello said the OFWs are stranded since it now takes longer for them to get their COVID-10 results, which before only took one to two days. “Mula pa nung October 15 ay nakatengga na ‘yung OFW dahil mabagal yung swabbing. Dati isa dalawang araw lang, ngayon umaabot na ng isang linggo [ang labas ng results],” he said in an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo. (Since October 15, OFWs are already stranded because the swabbing takes longer. Before, it only takes one to two days before the results come out but now it takes a week.) Since October 16, PRC has stopped conducting tests on arriving overseas Filipino workers, passengers in airports and seaports, individuals asking for COVID-19 tests in government swabbing facilities, front-line health and government workers, and others included in the expanded testing guidelines of the Department of Health. It said it would only resume services once Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) pays its overdue balance of P930.99 million.
Community-based clinical trials on VCO use vs COVID-19 to end in December — DOST-PCHRD | Manila Bulletin – The community-based clinical trials on the use of virgin coconut oil (VCO) as a treatment for COVID-19 is expected to be finished by December, the Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) said on Wednesday. Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, Executive Director of DOST-PCHRD, said the community trials being conducted in Sta. Rosa, Laguna is “supposed to finish December of this year, assuming that all the patients are in and they have been followed up, and completed the treatment of 28 days.” Montoya said around 90 patients were selected for the community-based trial. Half of the participants were given VCO while the other half was given the “standard of care.” The hospital-based clinical trial which is being conducted at the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, according to Montoya.
Digitalization promotes resiliency – economist | Manila Times – Businesses that adapt to digitalization will likely emerge stronger after the pandemic, a World Bank economist said on Tuesday. “This pandemic is an extraordinary shock yet there’s always a silver lining in any crisis. Digital transformation could be one of them. Going digital helps businesses, people and countries to be more efficient and competitive,” World Bank senior economist Rong Qian said during The Manila Times’ “Regroup and Rally: Bouncing Back Better” forum.
