COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic: Latest situation in the Philippines – November 2021

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COVID-19 pandemic: Latest situation in the Philippines – November 2021

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 are the latest updates from the World Health Organization regarding the vaccines? How is the Department of Health addressing the variants? What should the public expect in terms of the economy, quarantine classifications, and the vaccine rollout?

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

Doctors’ group urges government to only allow kids with COVID-19 jabs in malls

Tina Ganzon-Ozaeta

Philippine Medical Society president Dr. Benito Atienza cites the high mortality rate among kids aged four and below who are infected with COVID-19.

Read more.

DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of November 25, 2021

DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of November 24, 2021

CSC: Absences of gov’t workers due to COVID-19 vaccination may be excused

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) said on Wednesday, November 24, that absences of government workers due to COVID-19 vaccination may be considered as excused absence, as provided under its newly-released interim guidelines.

CSC Memorandum Circular No. 16, s. 2021 or the “Interim Guidelines on Absences of Government Officials and Employees Due to COVID-19 Vaccination and/or Adverse Events Following Immunization of COVID-19 Vaccine” provides for the treatment of absences of government officials and employees during their COVID-19 vaccination day and/or the required treatment or recuperation period from any AEFI of COVID-19 vaccine.

The guidelines define AEFI as “any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunization and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of vaccine.”

Read the complete guidelines here.

DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of November 23, 2021

OVP, QualiMed ink deal on molnupiravir treatment aid

DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of November 22, 2021

2,227 new COVID-19 cases on November 21

The Philippines now has 2,826,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,227 new cases on Sunday, November 21.

The DOH also reported 175 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 47,074. This is the fifth straight day that reported new deaths exceeded 100. Meanwhile, recoveries were up by 3,152, raising total recoveries to 2,758,235.

Of the total cases, 21,101 or 0.7% are active.

The DOH also logged a positivity rate of 2.8%, out of 39,874 tests. This is the second lowest daily positivity rate since the start of DOH records in April 2020.

Two labs were not operational on Friday, November 19, while two other labs failed to submit data in time for Sunday’s bulletin.

Philippines’ COVID-19 cases now at 2,824,499

Pauline Macaraeg

The Philippines now has 2,824,499 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,474 new cases on Saturday, November 20.

Of the total cases, 22,070 or 0.8% are active while the daily positivity rate – or the percentage of all COVID-19 tests performed that are actually positive – is at 3.2%. This is the 8th straight day that the daily positivity rate is below 5%

The DOH also reported 205 deaths on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 46,903. Meanwhile, the recoveries were up by 2,565, raising the total to 2,755,526.

The DOH said two of the laboratories were not operational on Thursday, November 18. Based on data from the past two weeks, these laboratories account for 5.2% of all samples and 0.7% of positive cases.

DOH bulletin: COVID-19 cases as of November 20, 2021