Sunday, March 21, 2021

Gov't expands curbs to four provinces. Inquirer Newsletter. March 22, 2021.

THE REAL SCORE The Makati City government on Sunday opens the doors of Makati Coliseum for the vaccination of around 2,400 health workers, who are now grappling with the flare of COVID-19 cases to close to 8,000 a day that has resulted in many hospitals in Metro Manila reaching their full capacity. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Board Talk

Greece seeks to liven up ties with PH

Two hundred years ago, in 1821, the Greeks won their war against the mighty Ottoman Empire, ushering in the establishment of the Hellenic Republic. Greece, which gifted humanity over millennia with philosophy, democracy, music, architecture, literature and the Olympics among many others, has reason to look back on its rich and colorful history with pride. —STORY BY Tina Arceo-Dumlao

News

Avoid Holy Week travel for own sake–DILG

The office of home affairs on Sunday advised the public to defer travel plans for the Holy Week to help prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Speaking for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya urged Filipinos to put off their Holy Week travel plans until the infection rate has been placed under control. —STORY BY Jeannette I. Andrade

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Gov't expands curbs to four provinces.

By Jerome Aning

The government has decided to keep the current quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila in place and expanded the curbs to neighboring Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite provinces for 14 days in a bid to suppress a surge in coronavirus infections.

In an online news briefing on Sunday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, besides keeping general community quarantine in Metro Manila up to April 4, decided to impose additional restrictions to deal with the surge during its meeting on Saturday.

Some of the additional restrictions, Roque said, were similar to those that have already been imposed by the task force itself and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), including a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., age restriction on people who may go out, and suspension of mass gatherings.

Before the task force’s latest decision, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite were on modified general community quarantine, the least restrictive level of coronavirus lockdown.

Despite pleas for stronger action by the government, the task force has decided against a hard lockdown, Roque said, referring to enhanced community quarantine, the strictest quarantine level that was imposed on the entire island of Luzon last year.

President Duterte has approved the task force’s recommendations, Roque said. The Philippines is battling a resurgence of the coronavirus, recording nearly 8,000 new infections daily in recent weeks, which are heavily putting pressure on the country’s health-care system.

On Sunday, the Department of Health (DOH) logged 7,757 additional infections, bringing the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 663,794 overall.

The DOH declared 15,288 people with mild or no symptoms as recovered after completing a 14-day quarantine, pushing the total number of COVID-19 survivors in the country to 577,754. But 39 more patients had died, it said, raising the death toll to 12,968. —WITH REPORTS FROM DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN AND MEG ADONIS INQ

Editorial

Avert looming corporate crisis

Even as the government grapples with the surging number of COVID-19 cases, a major crisis looms in the corporate sector that threatens to put millions out of work and their fate dependent on how the Duterte administration will help their employers.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net