Here are all the news that you need to know before the day ends here at Trendrod.
Enhanced Community Quarantine declared over NCR, four nearby provinces
A year after the enhanced community quarantine was first hoisted over the NCR, and eventually the rest of Luzon, the Philippines’ capital region and four nearby provinces (collectively known as the Greater Manila Area) are under ECQ anew. This measure should last from midnight of March 29, 2021 until April 4, 2021.
As part of this declaration, the following will be implemented within the next week.
> Transportation services will remain open, albeit DOTr will reduce the capacity.
> Contact tracing will also be ramped up, with 95% of people with close contact to COVID-19 positive patients must be traced within 24 hours. Additional antigen testing kits have also been ordered.
> Essential and priority construction projects will be allowed to continue, subject to DPWH guidelines.
> No gatherings of more than 10 people and no gatherings shall be made with people from outside the household.
> No person below the age of 18 and beyond the age of 65 shall be allowed to exit their homes. Only Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) will be allowed to go out for essential reasons.
> Curfew between 6:00pm and 5:00am. Essential workers, among other sectors, will need to present their IDs as proof, should they need to go out for work.
> Malls will remain open only for essential goods and services like groceries and pharmacies. Only take-out and delivery services are allowed for all restaurants.
> Only selected essential sectors will be allowed to operate at full capacity (hospitals, manufacturing, agriculture, courier services, among others). Meanwhile, only 50% workforce is allowed for private essential establishments, media, and DOTr-accredited workers. Only skeletal workforce should be permitted to go to their offices for the respective sectors: telecoms, water and energy utility companies, security personnel, airline employees, banks, funeral services, the religious sector, BPOs, NGOs, among others.
> Vaccine rollout will also be extended to the next two groups in line: the senior citizens and those with existing, controlled comorbidities.
PH logs second highest single-day tally since start of the COVID-19 pandemic
For second straight day, the Philippines has recorded more than 9,000 new cases. The country has also surpassed the 710,000 total cases mark, with 712,442 C19 cases as of today. Active cases has also spiked up to 118,122, PH’s highest number since the health crisis began.
Gavi COVAX Facility warns countries to follow WHO’s prioritization list
According to a spokesperson from the Gavi COVAX Facility, they’re reminding grantees to follow the prioritization list set by the World Health Organization. Should the COVAX evaluate that the implemented programs in the countries where they have sent vaccines vary from the WHO-approved list, they would have to require them to reimburse COVAX.
In the Philippines, there is a confirmed list of government officials who have been discovered to have received the first inoculation. That’s despite the fact that the country is still behind from the target of completely vaccinating frontline workers.
Samantha Bernardo named first runner up at Miss Grand International 2020
Filipina beauty queen Samantha Bernardo won first runner up at the recently-concluded Miss Grand International 2020, besting 61 other contestants. Abena Appiah of the USA was crowned as the 7th Miss Grand International. The said event was held in Bangkok, Thailand.