The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 11 reported on Sunday night eight new cases of Covid-19, with 27 more recoveries bringing down the region’s active cases to 754. In a statement, the DOH-11 said the 99,786 total recoveries correspond to a 95.6-percent recovery rate out of the 104,370 confirmed cases logged since the pandemic was declared in March last year. The agency said this city has the most number of recovered patients at 51,972 followed by Davao del Norte (18,677); Davao del Sur (10,921); Davao Oriental (7,314); Davao de Oro (7,203); and Davao Occidental (3,699). Of the total number

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $250-million loan to help the Philippine government secure additional coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine supply to boost the health security of Filipinos and ensure a safe and steady economic recovery. The assistance will allow the government to purchase 40 million additional doses of Covid-19 vaccines for eligible children and booster shots for adults. “The Philippines has continuously enhanced its capacities for testing, tracing, isolating, and treating Covid-19 cases and vigorously pursued Covid-19 inoculation for its population,” ADB Principal Social Sector Specialist for Southeast Asia Sakiko Tanaka said. “ADB is supporting the government’s

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday said the national government should start reviewing the policy on Covid-19 vaccine procurement to allow the private sector to purchase directly from manufacturers. Velasco said giving the private sector a much wider role in the inoculation drive would sustain the momentum of the government’s Covid-19 vaccination program in the country and enhance efforts to ensure the rapid and efficient rollout of available vaccines. “Since there is now ample supply of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines globally, it is time that the national government considers allowing the private sector to deal directly with manufacturers to

The Negros Occidental provincial government has opened the Provincial Capitol Lagoon and Park here to visitors of all ages starting Monday as the province remains under Alert Level 2 status amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. In his directive, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson cited the guidelines for nationwide alert level system and his previous order that visitor or tourist attractions such as parks, plazas, public gardens scenic viewpoints or overlooks and the likes are allowed limited operation of up to 70-percent capacity to cater to individuals regardless of vaccination status. “The Provincial Capitol Lagoon and Park is a popular

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday corrected the misimpression that the government “dropped the ball again” in the emergency procurement of microsyringes for Covid-19 vaccines. The issue stemmed from a Twitter post by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Saturday afternoon that the government refused an offer of 50 million pieces of syringes. In an interview over People’s Television Network, Duque said the supplier’s price is higher than the budget the government had allotted for the syringes. He also clarified that the microsyringes are not a donation as implied by Locsin, without mentioning the company’s

The National Capital Region (NCR) is now with very low risk classification for Covid-19 with only 91 new cases reported per day from December 6 to 12, the OCTA Research Group said Monday. “The incidence or average daily attack rate (ADAR) decreased to less than one at 0.64 per 100,000 [individuals] while the reproduction number was very low at 0.39,” an OCTA latest report said. It added that NCR’s positivity rate is 0.9 percent. The 13 local government units (LGUs) in the NCR classified as very low risk include Pateros, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Mandaluyong, Parañaque, Marikina, Pasig, Navotas, Valenzuela, San