Here are the top stories for July 23, 2021 on Trendrod.
Metro Manila returns to stricter quarantine measures due to Delta variant
On Thursday, the Department of Health’s confirmation that there is indeed a local transmission of the COVID-19 B.1.617 or Delta variant in the country. As of July 23, there are now 47 confirmed cases in the Philippines of the said variant.
As a response, the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases or IATF-EID has formally recommended a stricter general community quarantine (GCQ) for Metro Manila and some provinces with notable spike in COVID-19.
Now under GCQ with heightened restrictions are Metro Manila, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte in Luzon. Meanwhile, Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte in Mindanao are also under the same classification. The stricter measures will last until July 31, 2021.
Likewise, additional countries have also been listed to the temporary travel ban that will last until the end of July. The list now includes Thailand and Malaysia. Transiting passengers between July 25 and 31 are required to take a 14-day quarantine in the country.
Philippines’ Central Bank orders Lyka app to halt local operations
In an order relased on Friday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has directed Lyka, an app that lets users pay using their collected gems for services and goods.
According to BSP, the company that owns Lyka is yet to register as an Operator of Payment System (OPS) before the regulator. BSP has also since stated that the other party has also expressed their intention to register as an OPS.
A2Z to debut its first regular newscast on Monday
Nine months into the channel’s life, a regular weekday newscast is finally coming to A2Z Channel 11.
Titled Balitang A2Z, the program will not be produced by ABS-CBN News — the news division of the channel’s major blocktimer, ABS-CBN. Instead, it will be the owner Zoe Broadcasting Network who will mount Balitang A2Z.
Set to anchor the newscast will be a former ABS-CBN news reporter and DZMM traffic ‘angel’ Barbie Muhlach.
Balitang A2Z will air beginning July 26, Mondays through Fridays at 10:30pm, on A2Z Channel 11.
GMA Regional TV expands coverage with RTV News
Nearly two years after the pioneering broadcast of Regional TV Weekend News, GMA RTV is rebooting the program and expanding it to six days a week.
Beginning July 26, 2021, Kapuso viewers in the regions may tune in to GTV every morning to get their dose of information from their localities. Now reborn as the Regional TV News, the show will still continue to deliver updates from GMA Regional TV stations in Dagupan (North and Central Mindanao), Naga (Bicol), Iloilo and Bacolod (Western Visayas), Cebu (Central and Eastern Visayas), and Davao (Mindanao).
The new Regional TV News will be on air weekdays at 9:00am, and Saturdays at 10:00am, on GTV, beginning July 26.
Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games formally opens a year behind its initial schedule
More than a year ago, the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the deferring of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic to 2021.
A year after that announcement, Tokyo 2020 had finally opened on Friday, July 23 at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. The opening ceremony was held without an audience, for the first time in the Olympics’ 125-year history.
The spectator-less Olympics was also due to the placement of the City of Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures under state of emergency caused by a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent months.
Despite the drastic measures, the opening ceremony was still filled with memorable highlights. Those include firework displays, a drone show, a Pictogram performance, and a filmed performance of John Lennon’s Imagine by artists like Keith Urban and John Legend, among others.
The Philippines has also sent a delegation of 19 athletes in 11 sports at the Summer games, most notable of which are Carlos Yulo in gymnastics and 3-time Olympiad and Rio 2016 silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting.
However, during the opening ceremonies, only flagbearers Eumir Marcial and Kiyomi Watanabe and a handful of support staff were part of the parade. According to the Philippine Olympic Committee, that was a deliberate decision to prevent the country’s prized athletes from catching the COVID-19 virus.
The Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games will last until August 8, 2021.