Friday, December 25, 2020

PH braces for threat of new virus variant. Inquirer Newsletter. December 26, 2020

LOW-KEY Celebrating a Christmas Eve Mass made somber by the pandemic in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Francis urges the Catholic faithful to curb “our endless desires for possessions” and instead come to the aid of the poor as the global village continues to reel from the health crisis. In serving the needy, the pontiff said, they can show their love for the Son of God, who was “also born an outcast.” —Reuters

News

Christmas Day jolts in Luzon, Mindanao

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Tagalog province of Batangas on Christmas Day, its impact felt as far as Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon and the Ilocos region farther north. No casualties were initially reported, but the quake damaged several homes on Lubang Island, Occidental Mindoro. A 5.2-magnitude temblor was recorded also on Friday morning in Sarangani province. —Story by Madonna Virola and Maricar Cinco

Regions

Agusan Sur reels from ‘Vicky’ floods

Checkpoints and surveillance operations in 505 villages in Pampanga province have been activated for three days starting Christmas Day to control the spread of the coronavirus, officials said. In Santiago City, Isabela province, Mayor Joseph Tan imposed a liquor ban on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 and on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, 2021, also to prevent the spread of COVID-19. —Story by Tonette Orejas and Villamor Visaya Jr.

To Be You

When Christmas family traditions come to a pause

Our clan, with over 200 members, usually gathers on Dec. 25 for a full day celebrations. Yet this year, we aren't allowed to leave our homes.

Special Report

Sexual violence in PH: Stuff of jokes, stats of nightmares

What were you wearing? How much did you drink? Why didn't you shout? Why didn't you run away? As though they hadn't been through the worst, survivors of sexual abuse still find themselves thus interrogated by the very people supposed to come to their aid.

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PH braces for threat of new virus variant

By Leila B. Salaverria

President Duterte has called infectious disease experts and the managers of the country’s COVID-19 response to a special meeting on Saturday to discuss possible changes in policies to deal with the new coronavirus variant that emerged in the United Kingdom, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Mr. Duterte will cut short his visit to Davao City, where he spent Christmas with his family, to return to Malacañang for the 6 p.m. meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Roque said.

In a Viber message to reporters, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, a longtime aide of the President, said Mr. Duterte was “very much worried” about the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the severe respiratory disease.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced more stringent lockdown measures over the Christmas holiday in the United Kingdom, said the new variant “may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original version of the disease.”

56% more contagious

Scientists said in a new study that the mutated coronavirus was on average 56 percent more contagious than the original version.

Roque said the officials would determine whether there was a need “to change some policies in the fight against COVID-19” like the possible extension of the one-week ban on people traveling from the United Kingdom, which started on Dec. 24, or to impose the same ban on travelers from places that have reported cases of the new variant like Singapore, Nigeria and Hong Kong.

If the new variant is proven to spread more easily, there would be need for stricter implementation of health and safety protocols to prevent the spread of the disease, he said.

But when asked whether a more infectious variant would mean stricter quarantine, Roque said, “Maybe not because we are really making sure our people have a means of living.”

“And I think this Christmas, despite doubts, Filipinos have shown that they can follow minimum health standards,” he added.

In the new study, scientists warned that the more contagious mutated coronavirus may need a faster vaccine rollout to help prevent more deaths.

According to the study published on Wednesday by the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, researchers were still uncertain whether the new variant was more or less deadly than its predecessor.

“Nevertheless, the increase in transmissibility is likely to lead to a large increase in incidence, with COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths projected to reach higher levels in 2021 than were observed in 2020, even if regional tiered restrictions implemented before 19 December are maintained,” they said.

Speed up rollout

The authors of the study said the national lockdown imposed in England in November was unlikely to prevent an increase of infections “unless primary schools, secondary schools and universities are also closed.”

Any easing of control measures would likely prompt “a large resurgence of the virus,” they said.

This means that “it may be necessary to greatly accelerate vaccine rollout to have an appreciable impact in suppressing the resulting disease burden.”

The discovery of the new variant set off alarm bells worldwide just as more countries began vaccination campaigns to halt a pandemic that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives since it emerged a year ago in China.

Many countries quickly imposed bans on travel from Britain, but EU governments have relaxed the restrictions.

The cofounder of BioNTech—Pfizer’s partner in producing the vaccine that is being rolled out worldwide this week—has said its drug is “highly likely” to work against the mutated virus and otherwise can be adapted in six weeks.

Postholiday surge

In Cebu City, health authorities in Central Visayas appealed to privately owned and government-run hospitals in the region to maintain their 30-percent allocated coronavirus beds in wards and intensive care units to prepare for a possible postholiday surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Should there be another spike in COVID-19 cases, God forbid, we should be ready to address the needs of patients,” said Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, spokesperson of the Region 7 office of the Department of Health (DOH).

Loreche told the Inquirer that the region’s testing capacity could go as high as 4,000 to 5,000 in 24 hours.

She said Cebu City, once tagged as the second epicenter of COVID-19 in the country after Metro Manila, has a “very active and efficient” Emergency Operations Center. Critical care utilization rate in hospitals is also down from more than 80 percent to 19 percent, Loreche said.

Although Central Visayas already flattened the curve last September, she said people should not be complacent and should continue observing health protocols like wearing face masks and face shields, practicing physical distancing, frequent hand-washing and staying indoors as much as possible.

Central Visayas, which includes Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, has recorded a total of 24,776 cases with 22,748 recoveries, and 1,424 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the DOH 7.

As of Thursday, only 604 cases remained active.

Most new cases in QC

The DOH reported 1,885 new infections on Christmas Day, raising the national total to 467,601.

Quezon City had the most number of new cases (130), followed by Bulacan (122), Davao City (99), Rizal (78) and Leyte (63).

Another 307 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 430,791.

The death toll increased to 9,062 after seven patients died.

The recoveries and deaths left the country with 27,748 active cases, of which 81.7 percent are mild, 10.4 percent asymptomatic, 0.32 percent moderate, 2.6 percent severe and 4.9 percent critical.

From Dec. 1 to Dec. 25, a total of 36,229 new cases were recorded, a 14-percent drop from 42,427 during the same period last month, the DOH said.

While the national government has yet to seal a deal to acquire a vaccine, some local authorities have started looking for funds to purchase vaccines for their constituents.

Cebu vaccine budget

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said the city had set aside at least P500 million to procure and distribute a vaccine.

He said Carlito Galvez Jr., who was in charge of the national vaccination program, told him that Cebu City would be among the areas that would be prioritized.

Loreche said at least 60 percent of the population must be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

“It would be a waste of funds, time and efforts if we would fall short of that and find it difficult to attain. This is why it will definitely require partnerships and collaborations to become successful,” she added. —WITH REPORTS FROM MELVIN GASCON, ADOR VINCENT MAYOL, JOVIC YEE AND AFP

Editorial

Why Juan and Juana can’t read

The year about to end has had more than its fair share of daunting challenges on the education front. Like other young people around the world, Filipino Juans and Juanas have had to forego classroom learning in favor of remote learning via the internet, TV, or radio, or a 'blended' combination of distance learning and printed modules. But long before COVID-19 hit our shores, formal education in the country had been suffering a number of ailments. This was borne out by the dismal results, for the country at least, of international assessments designed to test the capabilities of school-age children. In 2018, the country ranked very near if not in the bottom of a multi-country test. Of 79 participating countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment, the Philippines ranked last in reading and second to last in math and science.

The results of the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study further confirmed the dismal state of the country' educational system: The Philippines once more landed in the bottom of the rankings for participating countries based on Grade 4 tests on math and science. One of the findings was that only 19 percent of Filipino students reached the 'low intermediate benchmark, which indicated that only a few percent have some basic mathematical knowledge.' One wonders how much worse the results of such tests would be for the Philippines given the compounded hurdles posed by this year’s events, from the pandemic to the economic fallout from the lockdowns and the problem-riddled 'blended' learning approach