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What you need to know
How many people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Philippines? How many have recovered, and how many have died? What is President Rodrigo Duterte doing about it? What should the public expect in terms of the economy and vaccine development?
Bookmark and refresh this page for the latest news updates, opinion articles, and analysis pieces about the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.
Latest updates
DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of January 18, 2021
Philippines' COVID-19 deaths near 10,000
The Philippines now has 502,736 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,163 additional cases on Monday, January 18.
The DOH also reported 14 new deaths due to the coronavirus disease, bringing the death toll to 9,909.
Meanwhile, recoveries are up by 2, raising the total to 465,988. The number of recoveries reported on Monday is the lowest since April 3, 2020, when the country logged only a single recovered patient.
Of the total cases, 26,939 are active.
Filipinos from abroad vaccinated vs COVID-19 must still undergo quarantine
Filipinos who managed to get administered with a COVID-19 vaccine and wish to enter the Philippines will still need to undergo quarantine, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday, January 18.
"Subject to 14-day quarantine," he said during a press conference when asked if rules would be changed for such Filipinos.
In the current travel regulations, Filipinos who travel from any of the 34 countries facing restrictions due to the new COVID-19 variant are required to complete a 14-day quarantine period even if they test negative in a swab test. But Filipinos who come from countries not in this list just need to stay quarantined until swab test results come back negative.
DOH sees higher 7-day average of coronavirus cases
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, January 18, said it saw an increasing trend of COVID-19 cases in the country after the holiday season.
"We saw that cases already increased and we have tried to analyze it. We compared it. Last December the average reported cases per day was at 1,000 to 1,300 cases, compared to last week's 7-day average of 1,500 cases," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Vergeire said that they will continue to monitor the trend this week to see if this is indeed the post-holiday surge of cases.
Mountain Province gov't offices closed January 18 to 22
Mountain Province's government offices will be closed from January 18 to 22 because of the spike in COVID-19 cases, particularly in Bontoc town, where the offices are located.
"The suspension of work will allow for the disinfection of concerned offices and to fast-track the contact tracing of the close contacts of the [provincial government] workers who just tested positive [for] COVID-19," said Mountain Province Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr.
The province confirmed 36 new cases on Sunday, January 17, bringing the total number of cases to 371.
Of the total, 217 are active, 153 recovered, and 1 died. Bontoc has the most number of active cases with 157, followed by Sabangan with 32.
The highest single-day increase in cases in Mountain Province was last Thursday, January 14, when 84 new cases were confirmed.
Lacwasan said those exempted from the 5-day work suspension are the provincial health office, government hospitals, disaster management office, and security office.
The provincial budget, accounting, and treasury offices will be partially open because of the closing of financial books and deadlines for financial reports, he added.
Philippines now has half a million COVID-19 cases
The Philippines now has half a million confirmed cases of the coronavirus, nearly a year after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country.
DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of January 17, 2021
Filipinos have the right to ask about vaccine costs, says Robredo
Vice President Leni Robredo stressed that Filipinos have the right to ask about vaccine costs, especially if the money comes from public coffers.
“Karapatan ng mamamayan, sana hindi masamain,” Robredo said. (That’s the right of citizens. I hope they don’t put it in a bad light.)
Philippines shouldn’t settle for ‘puwede na’ vaccines – Pangilinan
Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan said the Philippines should not settle for “puwede na” or mediocre COVID-19 vaccines.
“Bukod sa 47% na ayaw magpabakuna, meron pang 27% na di siguradong magpapabakuna. Kaya kailangan natin ang pinakaligtas at pinakamabisang bakuna para sa ating mga kababayan,” Pangilinan said.
(Aside from the 47% who don’t want to get vaccinated, there’s still 27% who aren’t sure about vaccination. We need the safest and most effective vaccines for our countrymen.)
Quezon City tags 143 contacts of Filipino with UK coronavirus variant
The Quezon City government is monitoring 143 contacts of the Filipino who was diagnosed with the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19.
Dr Roland Cruz, head of Quezon City’s Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit, at least 55 of them were identified as first-generation close contacts. This means they were “within two meters of the infected person.”