Thursday, May 27, 2021

Eased curbs in NCR Plus bubble seen as cases dip. Inquirer Newsletter May 28, 2021

BANNER BORN IN BATTLE Members of the Philippine Navy rehearse on Thursday at Alapan Heritage Park in Imus, Cavite, for today’s Flag Day rites. The national colors were first unfurled on May 28, 1898, by Filipino revolutionary forces after defeating Spanish troops in the Battle of Alapan. —Richard A. Reyes

News

44-0: Impeach rap vs Leonen junked

In a 44-0 vote, the House justice committee finds the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen insufficient in form, dismissing it on the first day of deliberations. Accused of lacking integrity, Leonen calls the ruling “an act that powerfully speaks for itself.” The complaint was endorsed by a lawmaker and cousin of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. —Story by Nestor Corrales

News

Only 11% of seniors inoculated so far

Only 11 percent of some 9.4 million senior citizens in the A2 priority group have received COVID-19 vaccines, prompting Palace officials to propose home vaccination for the bedridden elderly and ask President Duterte to personally convince this vulnerable sector to get vaccinated. Mr. Duterte admonished some local governments for being “selective” and preferring only Pfizer vaccines. —Story by Maricar Cinco and Jerome Aning

Newsletter / Join us

Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19.

Listen here

Banner Story

Eased curbs in NCR Plus bubble seen as cases dip

By Leila B. Salaverria and Patricia Denise M. Chiu

With Metro Manila mayors backing the gradual reopening of businesses and the improving COVID-19 figures, Malacañang on Thursday said quarantine restrictions in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjacent provinces could be eased next month.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the decision on whether to ease or tighten the restrictions would be based on the two-week growth rate and the average daily attack rate, and the hospital utilization rate, which have gone down in Metro Manila and the rest of the country.

The average daily attack rate in NCR went down to 10.6 percent during the May 9-22 period from 34 percent during its peak from April 4 to 17. Nationwide, it went down to 5.42 percent from 9.2 percent.

The two-week growth rate declined to negative 47 percent from negative 5 percent in Metro Manila, and to negative 21 percent from 11 percent nationwide.

The overall health care utilization rate in Metro Manila is 43 percent. The utilization of intensive care unit beds in NCR is 58 percent, 41 percent for isolation beds.

Measured reopening

“There’s a likelihood that quarantine classification might be relaxed on the basis of formula, but subject to the recommendation of Metro Manila mayors that any further reopening should be gradual,” Roque said in a press briefing.

In addition to Metro Manila, the quarantine restriction may also be eased in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal. They are also referred to as the NCR Plus bubble.

At the same briefing, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Benhur Abalos said the mayors agreed to support the measured reopening of businesses proposed by Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

He said establishments wanted to reopen their businesses “slowly but surely.”

“More business activities, increased capacity, but done gradually,” Abalos explained.

The NCR mayors also support the vaccination of front-line workers in essential sectors and uniformed personnel, or those in the A4 category, he said.

They are amenable to expanding the venue capacity for religious activities to 50 percent from the current 30 percent, he added.

But he said the mayors decided keep the 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew in the metropolis.

Dr. Alethea De Guzman, officer in charge of the Epidemiology Bureau of the Department of Health (DOH) acknowledged the decline in the number of COVID-19 infections, but noted that testing had also gone down.

She said this could be due to the growing number of rapid antigen tests used in Metro Manila, whose results were not included in the DOH’s daily reports of case counts.

The DOH reports only the results of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, the “gold standard,” which detects the actual presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the severe respiratory disease.

Less sensitive test

Antigen tests, which are less sensitive than the RT-PCR tests, only imply the presence of the virus but results could be obtained in as fast as half an hour.

From a record high of 67,563 tests on April 14, the DOH reported that there were only 36,630 tests last Monday, with a positivity rate of 13.5 percent. This compares with the 24.2 percent positivity rate on April 2 during the surge, or nearly one in four who were tested was positive for the virus.

“When individuals test positive using the antigen test, we take note and tally, and they are isolated and their cases are managed,” De Guzman explained. “We have a tally [of the antigen testing] but this is not included in the total yet.”

Asked whether the DOH would include the antigen test results, De Guzman said this would need “clearance.”

The DOH had recommended antigen tests for specific circumstances, such as confirmatory testing for people who are asymptomatic but had been exposed to a positive case, as well as for use in communities where there are known clusters of cases.

De Guzman said the current number of new infections in the country was around half of the what was recorded during the peak of the surge in April.

The average daily reported cases from May 19 to 25 was 5,130, almost half the 10,849 reported from April 9 to 15.

Rising outside NCR

While cases in the NCR and nearby provinces are going down, those in the Visayas and Mindanao are rising faster, De Guzman said.

“[This week’s] increase is higher than the increase we saw last week,” she said.

The DOH recorded 6,483 new cases nationwide on Thursday, pushing the country’s total case count to 1,200,430.

There were 4,336 who recovered, bringing the total number of survivors to 1,131,942. But the 201 who died raised the death toll to 20,379. The deaths reported on Thursday was the highest single day tally since the 225 recorded on April 10.

The recoveries and deaths left 48,109 active cases, of which 92.7 percent are mild, 2.2 percent asymptomatic, 1.6 percent critical, 2.1 percent severe and 1.47 moderate.

The health department said six laboratories were not able to submit their data on time.

Editorial

Crimes against the vulnerable

Heinous crimes against members of two of the country’s most vulnerable sectors—the LGBTQ community and persons with disabilities (PWDs)—have shocked the nation in recent days. On May 20 in Quezon City, transman Norriebi Tria, also known as Ebeng Mayor, 22, was found, according to reports, ‘bloodied and bruised, a wooden stick impaled into his genitals’ three days after he was reported missing. InValenzuela City, Edwin Arnigo, 18, who had been diagnosed with autism, was shot dead Sunday by police after an alleged gun scuffle during a raid on an illegal cockpit. But his mother quoted witnesses as saying that police had shot her son while he was at the office of the
homeowners’ association, and dragged his body to the cockpit where they stripped off his shirt to muddle the evidence... It is incumbent on the government to pursue measures that extend fairness, inclusion, and equal protection to all Filipino—but especially those from historically disenfranchised communities.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net