by Dhel Nazario, Manila Bulletin
The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday, Oct. 19 that daily Covid-19 cases may reach 4,000 to as high as 8,000 by the end of the month should compliance with minimum public health standards (MPHS) further declines.
In a press briefing, Dr. Althea de Guzman, a medical specialist from the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau, said that based on their projections show that a continuous decline in minimum public health standards may lead to case increases.
She said that national daily cases projected using actual data, as of September 18 showed that cases detected at the national level are expected to follow a continuous slow downward trend with projections estimating cases at 1,204 cases per day by the end of October.
“However, a further decline in our MPHS compliance may reverse our trend with an increase in cases ranging from 4055 to as high as 8670 by the end of October,” she stated. She added that AuTuMN projections also show a similar trend. However, it emphasizes that even with case increases, severe and critical illnesses are not seen to exceed those previously observed during the Delta and Omicron spike.
De Guzman also mentioned that the emergence of a new variant may lead to a sharp increase in hospitalization at the beginning of 2023 in the National Capital Region (NCR).
(National Irrigation Administration / File Photo)
by Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz, Manila Bulletin
Authorities have stopped Magat Dam’s spilling operations on Wednesday, April 20, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said in its termination of flood precaution advisory.
PAGASA said that the Magat Dam in Isabela has closed its gate at around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
In its latest monitoring, Magat Dam’s water level was at 190.01 meters, which is 3 meters below its 193.0-meter spilling level.
The dam conducted discharge operations on April 14 amid rains from the northeasterly surface wind flow.
In the past 24 hours, PAGASA recorded less than 1.0 millimeter of rainfall over the Magat watershed.
Meanwhile, it projected less than 5 millimeters of rainfall in the next 24 hours.
“With this development and unless significant rain occurs, this is the final dam situationer for this period. Flood forecasting and warning system for dam operation for Magat Dam is now terminated,” PAGASA’s advisory read.
PAGASA said the entire country can expect hot and humid weather with isolated rain showers because of the easterlies, or the warm winds from the Pacific Ocean, in the next few days.
The government’s pandemic task force has decided to keep the National Capital Region (NCR) under the coronavirus (COVID-19) Alert Level 2 while it placed seven other areas under Alert Level 3 from February 16 to 28, 2022.
In a statement, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the following areas will be under Alert Level 3:
Iloilo City, Iloilo Province, Guimaras, Zamboanga City, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, South Cotabato.
MANILA. A police officer checks documents at a checkpoint as the government enforced another round of strict health restrictions to control the rise of Covid-19 cases at the outskirts of Quezon City in Manila, Philippines on Monday, January 10, 2022. (AP)
By: THIRD ANNE PERALTA-MALONZO, SunStar Manila
THE National Capital Region (NCR) is experiencing a “severe outbreak” of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) following the increase in average daily attack rate (Adar) to 89.42 percent, Octa fellow Dr. Guido David said on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.
David said NCR’s Adar jumped to 89.42 percent (January 4 to 10) from just 12.71 percent in December 28, 2021 to January 3.
“The Adar increased to 89.41 (percent), which is above the Covidactnow threshold for a severe outbreak (greater than 75 per day per 100K),” David said.
He said the seven-day positivity rate increased to 48 percent, while the reproduction number decreased to 5.22 from 5.65.
He said the decrease in the reproduction number indicates a “slight” downtrend.
“Hospital bed occupancy increased to 57 percent and is likely to exceed 70 percent next week,” said David.
“Overall, NCR is classified as a very high risk,” he added.
The Philippines is experiencing a spike in Covid-19 cases believed to be due to the more transmissible Omicron variant.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the Omicron variant is the new dominant variant in the country, overthrowing the Delta strain.
The Department of Health on Monday, January 10, reported a total of 33,169 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day tally recorded so far since the pandemic began in 2020.
This has brought the country’s total active cases to 157,526.
The NCR is under Alert Level 3 until January 15.
In a press briefing, acting presidential spokesperson Cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force will discuss the quarantine status in the country by Thursday, January 13.
“Ito ‘yung binabantayan natin total bed utilization pag pumalo ng 71 percent and higher to 84 percent, dito masasabi na i-alert level 4 na ang Metro Manila,” he said.
“As of the moment, hindi pa po tayo nagb-breach ng threshold na yan and that is why Metro Manila still remains under alert level 3,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)
It largely depends how fast both city is growing now. If both grows at the same rate they did between 2010–2015 (City of Manila - 2015 - 1,780,148 at 1.43%; Davao - 2015 - 1,632,991 at 2.3%), Davao City will marginally surpass the City of Manila’s population by 2026. Using the same population growth rates, both will reach more than 2 million by 2024.
Davao City can actually become the second largest city at an earlier time considering the attention (and investments) it has been getting as President Duterte’s hometown. Or it could be a little longer if the good news generated by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno entices people to return to the capital. We can better gauge this when we see the results of the 2020 Census.
Update (July 2021):
The results of the 2020 Census has been released. The City of Manila’s official population count is now 1,846,513 and Davao City at 1,776,949. Between the two censuses, the former added 66k and the latter 143k. Assuming the same number will be added in the next 5 years, Davao City will be marginally larger than the City of Manila by the next Census. And both cities won’t reach the 2M milestone just yet.
Being British but married to a Filipina for over 20 years I must have been to Manila about fourteen times now, and walked around the crowded streets, the busy markets, and ridden on the Jeepneys and LRT and MRT trains, but I have never had anything stolen in this enormous city where there is so much poverty. However I am always very aware of my surroundings in the streets and public places, and I always keep my wallet and money well out of sight.
Whenever I visit a new place anywhere in the world there are two things that forewarn me to be careful and watch my belongings and my step. One of these is when I see people, especially youths and young men, just aimlessly loitering around and looking as though they are doing nothing except watching passers by in an unwelcome kind of way and seemingly scoping them out. Although I have encountered this in some places I have visited, and experienced an unpleasant feeling because of it, I always notice that in Manila everyone seems to be going about their business or at least trying to earn an honest living of one sort or another, and are therefore not paying so much attention to passers by, even though I am sure they must be curious about a foreigner like me.
The second thing that I have experienced in some places other than the Philippines which tells me to be careful is when I am approached or accosted by fit and able bodied youths and young men, who are begging in an aggressive or even intimidating manner or who claim to be selling drugs or able to procure women, etc. By contrast in Manila, the beggars are relatively few in number despite the poverty there. And then if you do encounter any beggars in Manila, they are not young men, but invariably only children, frail and infirm elderly people or visibly disabled people who are blind or have limbs missing. I do not mind being approached by people like that as opposed to the “sturdy beggars” (to use an Old English term) that are part of the street life in some other places. I am happy to give these inoffensive beggars some change, though of course I always have a bit of change in my pocket for this purpose and would certainly never take out a wallet full of cash and flash it in front of them.
For these reasons Manila does have a reasonably "safe" feel to me, indeed a safer feel than you would expect of a city like it, though of course you are more at risk of being pickpocketed whenever you are in a crowd, however "safe" the crowd feels.
This brings me on to my final point, because when I last visited the Philippines (in August 2017) I was the victim of a theft for the first time in the country, though not in Manila. I visited Antipolo Cathedral, pictured above, just about 25 kilometres or 15 miles out of Manila, where I had just a cheap digital camera taken from my pocket inside the cathedral, though fortunately my wallet, cards and cash were safely in a securely fastened pocket elsewhere on my person. Actually the big churches and pilgrimage churches in and around Manila, such as Quiapo and Antipolo, are often crowded and you should be especially careful here. You are probably much more risk of being pick-pocketed in a busy or crowded church than any other public place because of your diminished "situational awareness" - that is to say, you are or at least should always be in a state of relaxed alertness in crowded markets or public transport to reduce the risk of theft, whereas when you leave the hectic streets to walk into the supposed sanctuary of a church, you tend to "switch off" so to speak, and your head and your senses are then in a different place that makes you much more vulnerable. So I am not at all surprised that the only place I have ever had something stolen in the Philippines is inside a church.
In some ways this is a very difficult question to answer because your experience will differ drastically depending on how much money you have. I'll give you my experience with the caveat that it is by no means representative of most people who live there. Although if you're a foreigner who's coming to live in Manila, this probably is representative.
I was born in Manila in 1984 and lived there until I left for college. However, I am not Filipino. My family is Pakistani and I inherited their citizenship since the Philippines does not grant citizenship based on birth in their territory.
My father worked for the Asian Development Bank, which is headquartered in Manila.
These are some of my thoughts from living there. Some of these are not necessarily specific to Manila but the Philippines in general.
Insufferable know-it-all, mostly law, science, politics and Canadian football
However, the battle for Manila at the end of the World War II devastated the city, and the tram network couldn’t be salvaged.
Luckily, when the Americans left, it turned out to be too expensive to take their Jeeps with them. They were sold for $1 apiece to the locals who cut them in half and put a top on them, thus was born…..
The Jeepney!
Privately operated Jeepneys, together with municipal buses and motorcycle taxis, form the backbone of Greater Manila’s transportation system. As most of the vehicles are privately operated, there’s massive political opposition to doing away with them and replacing them with a fully municipal system.
One of the problems is that Greater Manila is so big, but has lot of old narrow roads, there’s a massive “last mile” problem. Even Jeepneys have trouble navigating some of Manila’s neighbourhoods, which makes motorcycle taxis perfect for the job.
It would be nice if Manila could do something about it. It’s traffic is terrible and Jeepneys and motorcycle taxis are one of the reasons why. They run short routes, are always on the road, and stop at random places wherever they can pick up or drop off passengers. However, they’re also tremendously cheap - an auto taxi can cost ten times what a similar journey by motorcycle taxi and Jeepney will.
The people of Manila aren’t thrilled with the system despite its low cost. Only municipal buses make really long trips (more than 10 km) so a typical trip is motorcycle taxi to a Jeepney route, then Jeepney to a bus, take the bus to another Jeepney route, then take another motorcycle taxi to your destination. It’s insane.
The good (or bad) news is that Jeepneys can no longer be replaced - they’re brightly painted but usually patched together as best as possible.
