The release of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine which especially targets the Omicron variant may be “too late” for countries with an ongoing surge of cases, World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said on Wednesday. This, after Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Albert Bourla announced on Monday their redesigned Omicron-targeted Covid-19 jab may be ready for launching in March. “If you are talking about managing the spread of the [Omicron] variant in countries that are already seeing a surge, it may be too late,” Abeyasinghe said during a televised public briefing. He noted that the existing jabs under the WHO

Only fully vaccinated individuals, with some exceptions, will be allowed to take public transportation beginning January 17, a Department of Transportation (DOTr) official said Wednesday. “Para mabigyan ng konting allowance ang mga tao to prepare for this, ang utos ni [DOTr] Secretary [Arthur] Tugade is to make this fully effective by Monday (To give a little leeway and to allow people to prepare, Tugade ordered to make this fully effective by Monday),” DOTr Undersecretary Artemio Tuazon Jr. said in a virtual presser. The DOTr issued Department Order No. 2022 – 001 which states that only fully vaccinated individuals are allowed

Twenty-eight more cities and provinces will be elevated to a higher Alert Level 3 from January 14 to 31, Malacañang announced Wednesday. Acting Presidential Spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) decided to raise these cities and provinces to Alert Level 3 status amid the rise of Covid-19 cases in the country. In Luzon, the cities and provinces under Alert Level 3 are: Benguet, Kalinga and Abra in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); La Union, Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan in Region 1 (Ilocos); Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Quirino in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); Nueva Ecija and Tarlac

At least 209,809 houses were damaged during the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in Negros Occidental last December 16, the latest data released by the Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas (OCD-6) on Wednesday showed. Of the number, 158,345 were partially damaged while 51,464 were listed as totally damaged. This is based on the report of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-6 Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center as of Tuesday noon, the OCD-6 said. Data showed Negros Occidental, particularly its southern cities and municipalities, was the hardest by “Odette”, with almost 79 percent of the 266,137 total

Rep. Geraldine Roman on Wednesday said her first district office here will be temporarily closed “until further notice” after some of her staff were tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). “As much as we would like to reopen our district office sooner and continue to provide quality public service to our constituents in the first district of Bataan, we regret to inform you that we have been notified yesterday (Tuesday) that some of our staff tested positive for Covid-19 after our routine swabbing last Monday,” Roman said in social media post. She said some of her staff contracted