The Department of Health on Thursday reported 1,987 additional COVID-19 cases, the lowest since July, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 228,403.
“As of 4 PM (on) September 3, 2020, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 228,403,” said DOH COVID-19 Case Bulletin #173.
The total number of recoveries is 159,475 and deaths is 3,688.
It is the second straight day the number of additional cases was lower than usual, although Thursday’s data is only from 91 out of 113 operating laboratories.
For the first time in quite a while, less than half of the additional cases are from the National Capital Region (818).
There are now 65,240 active cases or individuals still infected in the country.
The Philippines has been logging record-high numbers in terms of new COVID-19 cases since late July, following the easing of quarantine measures and the gradual opening up of the economy.
The UP OCTA Research group estimates 330,000 to 375,000 cases by the end of September, although it said the epidemic curve had started to flatten.
Meanwhile, the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team estimates 402,821 to 767,611 cases, or an average of 585,216 cases by the end of the year.
Malaysian block
Meanwhile, the Philippines expressed dismay over Malaysia’s decision to block Filipinos with long-term passes from entering its territory beginning September 7 to curb the spread of COVID-19.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said Malaysia’s move was an exercise of national sovereignty.
“That’s a sovereign decision [on] who will be allowed to enter one’s territory,” Roque said in a televised briefing.
Aside from Filipinos, Malaysia will also bar the entry of long-term pass holders from India and Indonesia.
More compensation
Employees who contracted COVID-19 due to work-related activities can receive more compensation aside from the benefits of the Social Security System.
In a public briefing Thursday, Employees’ Compensation Commission Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis said these workers could receive sickness and medical benefits.
Beneficiaries can claim up to P480 per day depending on their monthly salary credit in SSS, Banawis said.
Aside from this, Banawis said the ECC also provides death and funeral benefits for employees who died due to work-related activities.
Stimulus package
A total P53.48 billion– almost half of the P165 billion stimulus package–for the support of healthcare workers has been allocated by the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, the Department of Health said.
The DOH said this had been helpful in sustaining their drive and keeping HCWs protected while at the same time preventing the influx of patients into hospitals.
The first phase of the Bayanihan One Act, also known as the Bayanihan to Heal as One, provided medical frontliners with personal protective equipment, accommodations, and risk allowances, among other benefits, as well as recruiting more of their colleagues to help them in their daily duties.
Bayanihan 2, on the other hand, will concentrate on primary care and the improvement of the health system and its attendant benefits.
SAP remittance
A congressman on Thursday prodded the Department of Social Welfare and Development to check on its financial service providers over alleged overcharging beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program amid complaints reaching the CamSur solon that certain “abusive” FSPs had been exacting exorbitant convenience fees from the cash payouts of SAP grantee-households.
Deputy Speaker for Finance and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte issued the call after the DSWD informed lawmakers at a congressional hearing that the agreement with remittance partners was that they should not charge more than P50 as a convenience fee for every SAP cashout regardless of the amount.
Villafuerte, however, said he had received reports that some providers charge as high as P120 for every over-the-counter cash payout in the authorized partner-remittance outlets designated by the DSWD.
CSC rapped
Senator Imee Marcos has castigated the Civil Service Commission for abetting high unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to certify applicants eligible for thousands of government jobs that have been left vacant for years.
Marcos, who will sponsor the CSC budget for 2021, said more than 269,000 permanent government positions were left unfilled in 2019, with almost 178,000 still vacant at the end of August this year.
“When government positions are left unfilled, the unused budget for hiring personnel are later declared as year-end savings. These suspicious savings become bonuses divvied up among agency officials,” she explained.
Internal wrangling among CSC board members and a passive attitude in taking government agencies to task were complicating the delay in filling up vacant government posts, Marcos added.
