The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the country’s participation in a global initiative that guarantees access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
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“The members of the IATF approved the participation of the Philippines in the Gavi COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, including the corresponding allocation of funds,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.
The COVAX Facility is a mechanism designed to ensure rapid, fair, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world, rich or poor, to make rapid progress towards slowing the pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a statement.
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The COVAX, co-led by WHO, Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, aims to step up the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines by getting the support of developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers.
Motorcycle barriers
The deadline for the installation of motorcycle barriers has been extended once more until July 31, Joint Task Force COVID Shield commander Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo said Friday.
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“In effect, motorcycle riders were given a three-week grace period to comply with this requirement. This will be the most that the government, through our NTF Against COVID-19, could give for our motorcycle riders to comply in order for them to be allowed to back-ride their spouses or live-in partners,” Eleazar said in a press statement.
Eleazar explained that another extension of the deadline was given due to mounting requests from motorcycle riders to give them more time to comply with the number one requirement of back-riding.
Eleazar said motorcycle dealers nationwide had been advised as to where motorcycle riders could avail themselves of the approved barrier design. The barriers will also be made available in popular online stores.
2 women nabbed
Authorities arrested two women for selling falsified COVID-19 test results at a computer shop in Caloocan City on Thursday.
In a phone interview on Friday, Brig. Gen. Rhoderick Armamento, deputy director for administration of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said suspects Angelica Dellola and Jeshel Mohad were nabbed in an entrapment operation inside the TJ Computer Shop in Barangay 177.
“We had an entrapment operation. There is one police officer who needed a rapid antibody test and for P500, he got the results,” he said in Filipino.
Contact tracers
The DOH gave assurances that COVID-19 contact tracers in the Philippines were well-informed of the guidelines on which information to collect and that such information gathered would be made anonymous once submitted to the DOH.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire vouched for this when asked about the reported suggestion of Central Visayas Police Regional Office director Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro to tap gossipers or “chismosas” for the task.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government is leading this endeavor with the help of 73,985 contact tracers nationwide, Vergeire said.
Last May, the DOH said the ideal number of contact tracers in the country was 126,000 to achieve the 1:800 ratio.
OFW funds
A party-list lawmaker on Friday said the House of Representatives would, when needed, augment funds for the repatriation of more than 100,000 overseas Filipino workers still stranded in their host countries.
“We can include the augmentation in the proposed Bayanihan 2 or We Recover as One law, which we hope to approve together with the Senate after we open our second regular session on Monday,” Rep. Mike Defensor of party-list group Anakalusugan said.
Defensor, chair of the committee on public accounts, has conducted two hearings on the repatriation of OFWs who have been stranded abroad since the lockdown in March.
During the committee’s second meeting last week, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Arriola informed the panel that the DFA has used up about P770 million of its P1-billion assistance to nationals fund for the return of stranded OFWs.
Airport hotline
The Manila International Airport Authority on Friday formed a special team and established a COVID-19 hotline to ensure proper enforcement of safety measures imposed by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease.
“The government is making efforts to lessen the unwanted impact of the pandemic in our economy. Being a vital part of the aviation industry, the airport must keep its operations going. Our employees are essential to our operations and the best we can do is give them a safe workplace,” said MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal.
The airport authority created the COVID-19 Task Force tasked to secure the response of health-related services on suspected cases. The Task Force established occupational safety and health standards to prevent, control and mitigate the spread of this infectious disease.
To ensure immediate response, Hotline 3187, a 24/7 dedicated extension line, was also established where queries of MIAA personnel and that of its service providers may be directed.
Demographic profile
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines is recommending the extensive use of data analytics to break down the demographic profile of positive cases for targeted interventions.
The group recognized that the growing number of COVID-19 cases, though a direct result of the increased capacity in testing, may prompt the government to revert to another enhanced community quarantine scenario.
ECOP is gravely concerned that going back to ECQ will make it all the more difficult for the economy to bounce back.
Going back to ECQ, only businesses offering selected essential services will be allowed to operate not including the huge amount of resources needed to feed families that will be locked down in their homes.
“By and large the people are really cooperating but they are desperately looking for livelihood sources for survival. These are the ones coming out from the quarantine. So the government needs to respond based on data from improved contact tracing. While I understand that geographic-based indicators are now available already, we still need to get the other factors such as nature of work and workplace, gender and health condition. Then the intervention can be more specific, well targeted, and localized quarantine measures may be put in place,” said ECOP president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr.