PUNCHLINE
By FRED M. LOBO
Fred M. Lobo
The country has " flattened the curve" or the rate of coronavirus transmissions and deaths.
COVID-19 rate on a downward trend, the Inter-Agency Task Force said.
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As this develops, Pres. Duterte has apologized to the Ayalas and business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan whom he criticized before."Thank you for helping us provide the necessities of the moment," he said.
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Duterte said he will use science and the “flattening of the curve” on whether to downgrade the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon and other provinces to general community quarantine (GCQ).Time to reopen the economy now in more safer areas, business leaders urged.
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"There is, indeed, a flattening of the curve,” Dr. John Wong, head of the IATF-EID’s data analytics, said in a press briefing.“We are observing the cases and mortality , and both of them are slowing down.” he added.
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The IATF expert said the doubling time of COVID cases nationwide is at 4.6 days while the doubling time of deaths is 5.7 days.In Luzon, the current doubling time for COVID cases stands at 5.8 days from the previous 7 days, Wong added.
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But Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said “before we can be certain… limitations of data” should be taken into account.“We should take the 8,000 testing backlogs into consideration,” she said.
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“Despite the backlog, the flattening is still in effect," Wong said.Among 8,000, most of them will turn negative, we expect only around 800 of them to turn positive,” he added.
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“We already saw that from 10 days ago in terms of cases and mortality, " Wong said.Let's hope and pray it continues.
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Meanwhile, Malacanang said the government is now open to settlement with two water concessionaires -- the Ayalas and Pangilinan.Settling out of court is now possible, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said after the President apologized to the two tycoons.
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Duterte had earlier threatened to sue for plunder the Ayala-led Manila Water Company, Inc., and Manuel Pangilinan-led Maynilad Water Services for their alleged onerous water concession agreements." I apologize for the hurting words. If you find it in your heart to forgive me, (do it) because if you do not want to forgive me, I will undercut you and go directly to God," the President said in his Monday public address.
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“He offered to talk about the issues between these companies and the government so I think that’s an indication, he will explore out-of-court settlement,” Roque explained later press briefing.***
"The issues raised by the President remain. Maybe they can talk about how to change the concession agreement” Roque added.All is well that ends well, as the saying goes.