Contact tracing czar Benjamin Magalong told the House health committee that in many areas in the country, contract tracing does not go beyond the household of COVID-19 cases.

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Mayors and governors must decide based on which kind of aid will be faster to distribute, said Malacañang.

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Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH and NEDA are putting together a cost-benefit analysis that considers the impact of extended restrictions on the economy and overall health of Filipinos.

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The Tuguegarao City government imposed a 10-day localized enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) beginning Tuesday, March 30, as it grapples with a record number of COVID-19 cases.

Tuguegarao City is under ECQ until April 8.

Read the full story here.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said she has tested positive for COVID-19, the second time she has contracted the disease.

In a statement on Monday, March 29, Belmonte said she is experiencing “mild symptoms.”

Read her full statement here:

PRESS RELEASE MARCH 29, 2021
STATEMENT OF QUEZON CITY MAYOR JOY BELMONTE

Eight months after my first bout with COVID-19, I am very sad to report that I have once again tested positive for the virus. 

As many doctors have continued to remind us, COVID-19 is an ongoing and evolving pandemic, and we should not let our guard down under any circumstances. Indeed, even after recovering from the virus last year and carefully observing all the recommended precautions, my positive result is a sober reminder that there is no room for complacency when it comes to this disease. 

Needless to say, I will abide by all the recommended protocols and actions prescribed by the DOH, IATF, and our own City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU). Our CESU is likewise hard at work doing full contact-tracing procedures on individuals that I may have had close contact with.   

Thankfully, I am only feeling very mild symptoms at the moment, and I shall continue to perform all my executive functions and duties while I am quarantined at the Hope Community Care Facility in Quezon City. 

As our country prepares to observe the solemnity of the Holy Week, I would like to request all my beloved QCitizens to continue praying for all our brave frontliners. May our loving God protect them as they selflessly perform their heroic duties, and may His Healing Mercies touch all those afflicted by this deadly virus.

The city hall of Mabalacat in Pampanga and its satellite offices were closed down for a week starting Monday, March 29, after Mayor Crisostomo Garbo contracted COVID-19.

Rappler learned that only the payroll personnel of the City Treasurer’s Office were permitted to report for work on Monday to give out the salaries of job order and casual city government employees. Regular employees get their salaries via automated teller machine cards.

In a statement, Garbo said he experienced fever on Friday, March 26, and had himself tested for COVID-19. While subjecting himself to isolation in his residence, he was informed that his RT-PCR test had yielded a positive result.

Read more here.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte personally welcomed the arrival of one million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines, the first batch of vaccines paid for by the government to reach the country.

The one million doses of CoronaVac, the name of the Sinovac vaccine, cost the Philippine government P700 million, Malacañang said earlier on Monday. This means each dose cost the government P700. CoronaVac requires two doses, which means a full vaccine costs P1,400.

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Health experts in the Philippines’ pandemic task force are proposing an extension of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and 4 nearby provinces until April 18.

Alethea de Guzman of the Department of Health’s Epidemiology Bureau showed on Monday, March 29, that the extension would mean fewer COVID-19 cases by April 25, compared to the current scenario where ECQ in the “NCR Plus” bubble ends on Easter Sunday, April 4.

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