Philippines posts record daily death toll of 401

By The SUN

Two records were set Friday: biggest number of Covid-19 deaths and active cases

It would appear that the coronavirus variant sweeping across the Philippines is not just highly infectious, but deadly as well.

On Friday, Apr. 9, the country recorded 401 deaths, the biggest ever daily figure. It took the country’s total fatality toll to 14,520.

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This came as 12,225 new cases were posted on the same day, raising the overall infection tally to 840,554.

Of these, 178,351 are active cases, representing 21.2 percent of the total, the highest ever recorded not just in the country, but in the whole Southeast Asia.

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The total number of cases was the third biggest daily tally, after the 15,310 cases recorded on Apr 2, and the 12,576 the next day.

According to the Department of Health, about half of the reported deaths, or 213, was a result of its revalidation efforts.

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It said these cases “that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.” However, there was no explanation as to how such a gross mistake could have taken place.

But even with this explanation, 10 laboratories were reported to have failed to submit their data on time, meaning the infection and death rates could have been higher.

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Data culled from DOH’s daily reports show that over the past six days alone, 1,097 confirmed Covid-19 patients succumbed to the disease. These comprise two fatalities recorded on Apr 4, 10 on Apr 5, 382 on Apr 6, 242 on Apr 7 and 60 on Apr 8.

Most hospitals in Metro Manila have no more beds for Covid-19 patients

A day earlier, the World Health Organization warned the Philippines was close to crossing the “red line” in exhausting its health care capacity for handling the pandemic after record rises in its daily infections and death toll.

 

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 “We are concerned about the situation in the Philippines,” said WHO Regional Director Dr. Takeshi Kasai. “We are concerned because the surge is really continuing and moving toward the so-called red line [when] the number of cases exceed or surpass the capacity of health care.”

 

Kasai warned that it was “very, very important” that the red line was not crossed as that would health-care workers in a dire situation, and as a consequence, the decline of health-care capacity.

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Meanwhile, an infectious disease expert told the Manila-based daily, Philippine Star, that the record death tally merely reflected the surge in Covid-19 infections across the country.

Rontgene Solante of the San Lazaro Hospital said a majority of those who died recently were senior citizens, who are the most vulnerable among the sectors.

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“The virus is always virulent especially for 60 years old and above. The increase in death will always follow when you have more 60 years old and above admitted with comorbidities,” Solante was quoted as saying.

He added the increase in the mortality figure did not mean that Covid-19 and its rapidly spreading mutation, has become more virulent.

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DONATE TO THE MISSION FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

To those who wish to respond to the Mission for Migrant Workers' urgent appeal for cash aid as it marks its 40th year of service to migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, here is the link to their campaign: 

https://www.migrants.net/40-gala?fbclid=IwAR3Y-nmtLrPW-Vi_dVTKuXQ9ArHW-EhrKtFbR4urAdBGkH0jJHm7JGvkQEQ

You may also transfer money directly to their bank account using this QR Code:

Or to their TNG account using this QR Code:

For Smartone users, you can also transfer $5 directly to the Mission each time you text the word "DONATE" to their  linked telephone number:

Filipina ex-DH to be tried for overstaying and laundering $695k

By Vir B. Lumicao 

A total of $694,056 allegedly passed through Vargas' Hang Seng ATM account  

A Filipina who used to work as a domestic helper will be tried on Jun 7 in Eastern Court on a charge of laundering nearly $700,000 through her bank account over 16 months last year, and for overstaying her visa.

Kris Hope Vargas pleaded not guilty to the laundering charge today, Apr 9, before Magistrate Peter Law. She was not asked to enter her plea to the second charge, as the defense lawyer said Immigration has yet to complete its investigation.

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Vargas was ordered returned to custody until her next court appearance.

According to the prosecution, between Apr 15, 2019 and August 2020, the defendant used her Hang Seng account for multiple deposits and withdrawals of a total of $694,056 that was believed to represent proceeds of a crime.

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Vargas was arrested on Nov 20 last year, after various sums of money were deposited and withdrawn by unknown persons using her ATM-linked bank account.

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The transactions continued even after Vargas had gone underground following the expiry of her visa on Mar 10 last year. She was reportedly terminated by her employer in February that year.

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Police were alerted when the bank noticed the suspicious transaction

The defense lawyer told the magistrate that Vargas was not aware her ATM card was being used to move illegally acquired money. He said his client had lost her ATM card before those transactions were made.

The prosecution said it would call four witnesses but asked for three months’ time before trial to obtain bank transaction documents.

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6 Filipina DHs, all with coronavirus variant, among 14 new infections

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Chuang says 8 new arrivals from abroad were found with the mutated virus

Six more Filipina domestic workers, all with the more infectious coronavirus variant, were among 14 new Covid-19 cases reported in Hong Kong today, Apr 9.

Twelve of the new infections were imported, while two were locally acquired. They brought Hong Kong’s total tally to 11,564.

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According to Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection, two of the Filipinas arrived aboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 906 on Apr 7 and tested positive at the airport. Both, age 31 and 37, were asymptomatic.

The four others all flew in on Mar 27 aboard Cebu Pacific flight 5J272 and tested positive on their 12^th day in hotel quarantine.

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Three of them, two aged 32 and the other, 38, developed symptoms while quarantined. The fourth, aged 42, remained asymptomatic.

Two other new arrivals also tested positive for the N501Y variant. One was a 64-year-old man who came from Canada, and the other was a 10-month-old baby boy who arrived on Apr 4 from India and tested positive for Covid-19 while in quarantine.

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Another traveler from India who arrived on the same date and flight, UK 6395, did not have the mutated virus.

The three other imported cases were two returning residents from Egypt, a 65-year-old man and 67-year-old woman, who both tested positive on arrival at the airport; and a 42-year-old Indonesian DH who was found infected on her 19^th day sample while under quarantine.

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Chuang said there are now 192 cases of confirmed patients found with the N501Y variant, including 71 with the British strain and 20 with the South African one. The five earlier classified as having originated in Brazil are now said to have been identified by the World Health Organization as “not a variant of concern.”

A further 84 cases were said to be “waiting to be classified” and the remaining 12 are have undetermined origin because of “problems with the sample.”

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Of the two local cases, one involving a one-year-old baby girl, was linked to a previous infection. The other is a 42-year-old woman working as a sales staff at a Manning’s store in Yuen Long whose source of infection is unknown.

According to Chuang, the woman started feeling unwell on Mar 26. She went to a private doctor on Mar 31 and was not tested. When she continued to feel dizzy she consulted another private doctor on Apr 2, who also did not get her tested.

On the first doctor’s recommendation she got herself admitted to Baptist Hospital where her coronavirus infection was detected during the pre-admission screening.

Before this, she continued going to work, and did grave-sweeping in Pak Nai Village in Yuen Long with about 15 family members, after which they had a meal.

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Chuang said about 18 of the patient’s colleagues, as well as those who had a meal with her after the grave-sweeping will be put under quarantine.

Less than 10 preliminary positive cases were detected as of midnight last night, and they included two who live above each other in Oi Fai House in Yau Oi Estate in Tuen Mun.

One is a 66-year-old man who went grave-sweeping on Apr 4 while the other is a 6-year-old boy in primary school who last attended classes on Apr 2.

Chuang said a team of experts would visit Oi Fai House later in the afternoon to check if there was environmental contamination.

Ho reported two new fatalities, raising the death toll from Covid-19 to 201

Meanwhile, Dr Sara Ho of the Hospital Authority reported two new deaths among the confirmed patients.

One was a 69-year-old man who passed away at 3:50am today while in intensive care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. An 83-year-old woman who was in the same hospital, died later, at 6:45am.

Including the two patients, 201 patients confirmed to have Covid-19 have passed away in public hospitals.

As of 9am today, 126 confirmed patients were being treated in 20 public hospitals and the treatment facility at North Lantau Hospital. Among them, seven are in critical condition, six are seriously ill, while the remaining 116 are stable.

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Group that never says ‘no’ to migrants in need appeals for cash aid

By Vir B. Lumicao  

Migrant workers can join Mission's online anniversary gala this Sunday, for only $30 

Mission for Migrant Workers, a Church-based charity that is the succor and refuge of distressed foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year with an appeal for financial help.

The MFMW says it needs at least $200,000 a month to continue operating and maintain the level of assistance that it is extending to a growing number of clients. 

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The economic stagnation that stems from the prolonged coronavirus crisis that began early last year is having an impact on possibly every Hong Kong home, thus directly affecting the migrant helpers who are employed by those families.

Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, general manager of the Mission, said funding from their long-term corporate supporter and a smaller corporate sponsor for events that has come aboard lately could not meet all its financial requirements. Thus, the Mission has decided to tap local donors for additional funding.

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Tellez said the number of workers who have sought help since Covid-19 began has increased hugely. Last year alone, she said, around 2,000 stranded or displaced migrant workers sought help from Mission.

Tellez says the Mission helped some 2,000 migrant workers amid the pandemic

They included workers who were summarily fired by employers; those abandoned by bosses who had gone home to China and other places without formally dismissing them, and those who failed to find new employers and could not get a flight home.

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“An additional 2,600 migrants sent inquiries through our center phones, emergency hotline number, and messages through email, website and social media accounts even after office hours,” MFMW said in an anniversary letter posted to supporters.

Tellez said on Apr 7 on “The SUN Interviews” online show that in the latter part of the Mission’s 40 years of service, an average of 1,000 migrant workers had sought their help. She reckoned that the number tabs on cases the NGO is currently handling are now in the 21,000 range.

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Tellez said distressed workers approach the Mission for a range of problems, from shelter to visa extension cost, to labor claims against their employers and many other issues, and the charity group has always found ways to help them.

“Those who our two shelters can’t accommodate we refer to other shelters, or we send them to boarding houses that we rent for them,” said the Mission head.

Tellez with Erwiana, who was helped by the Mission to file cases vs her abusive employer

“Sometimes we ask them if they need money for their expenses and help them. We don’t say no to anyone,” said Tellez, who helped set up the Mission in 1981. Back then, there were only about 10,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, but they were already facing many challenges.

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There was another shelter at the time run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, but it closed down after its house mother went to Canada, Tellez said.

As a young social worker in the Philippines, Tellez was sent by religious groups to Hong Kong in 1980 to look into the possibility of extending help to the growing number of Filipino migrant workers there.

Three months after she submitted her report, she was asked to move to Hong Kong to work on the project she suggested, which included setting up a shelter for distressed migrants. She agreed, but on the condition that she would move here with her husband and three young kids.

The displaced or stranded workers are apart from newly arrived workers in mandatory 21-day hotel quarantine who appeal for food, water, clothing and other basic needs they can’t obtain in isolation or couldn’t afford to buy before flying to Hong Kong.

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Tellez said its volunteers respond to SOS calls from those in hotel quarantine, delivering packs of food and other stuff to them. Sometimes, the Mission taps other community groups to help out in this activity.

Mission staff assist workers left stranded when their flight to Manila was cancelled

Recently, the NGO approached the Consulate to ask for help in meeting the needs of distressed OFWs, especially those who lack shelter.

Tellez said Consul General Raly Tejada agreed to the idea and a working committee that included the Consulate, the Mission, Philippine Overseas Labor Office, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and some Filcom leaders was formed to address this issue.

Covid-19 has drastically increased the workload of the workers, such as ensuring higher household cleaning and hygiene requirements, as well as cooking for the family when dine-in was banned, and helping their wards in online learning at home.

As a result, more than 90% suffered from long working hours, with 7 out of 10 working 11 hours a day and 3 out of 10 working over 16 hours. Due to social restrictions, 1 out of 2 workers seeking help say they either don’t get regular rest days or work on that day, the MFMW said.

As the MFMW celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, the organization said it would continue to help the workers fight for their basic rights, such as providing them decent accommodation, regular rest days, better treatment and to combat contract violations.

The NGO complements the struggle by educating and training volunteers via online seminars, who in turn extend the knowledge that they received to fellow workers, especially those who are in need.

Those who wish to donate directly may check this website: 

https://www.migrants.net/40-gala?fbclid=IwAR3Y-nmtLrPW-Vi_dVTKuXQ9ArHW-EhrKtFbR4urAdBGkH0jJHm7JGvkQEQ

Or you may use the Mission's QR Code here:

You may also transfer money to their TNG account:

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