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SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo smiles during a news conference, March 31, 2020, in Washington. AP/ANDREW HARNIK

VICTIMS ALL, FRIENDS STILL FIGHTING ITS OWN TOUGH BATTLES, THE U.S. CONTINUES TO POUR AID TO SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES, INCLUDING PHL, BESIEGED BY GLOBAL VIRUS PANDEMIC

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By Rene Acosta

HE United States may now be among the worst-hit countries as the novel coronavirus 19 (Covid-19) pandemic stalks the world, but it’s sending a signal it’s not forgetting friends in the crisis.

The Philippines stands to get nearly $4 million in aid under an assistance package announced by the United States for Southeast Asia, now engaged in an uphill battle to

stop the spread of the deadly respiratory virus. The technical and financial assistance, initially with a total worth of $18.3 million, was allotted by the US as a form of emergency

support to the region against the Covid-19, as announced by the US State Department.

“The United States has been and will always continue to be the world’s largest humanitarian assistance provider. I mean, this is something that’s in our tradition.

It’s—you can look at the math. It is unambiguous,” said US State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo in a telephonic briefing with Southeast Asian journalists.

“Whether that is direct bilateral assistance to countries, or whether that is our role in the United Nations, or the World

Health Organization, or any of the other multilateral organizations, it is, in fact, the United States that leads the way. I am very confident that that will also be the truth with respect to Covid-19,” he added.

US cares

UNDER the package, the Philippines will get nearly $4 million in health assistance that will help officials “prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance,” according to a statement from the State Department, released by the US Embassy in Manila.

The aid will also fund and sup-

port technical experts for response and preparedness, risk communication, infection prevention and control, among others.

According to the US, it has already invested more than $582 million in the area of health alone, which is part of the nearly $4.5 billion in total assistance to the country over the past 20 years.

The assistance was announced as the Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency has provided locally sourced personal protective equipment, training exercises, laboratory equipment and materials in the

fight against the coronavirus.

“We care about these people, we want to support them. We want to reduce the risk to their people and to their countries,” Pompeo said of the support to the Philippines and to Southeast Asia.

“And then the United States, too, we’ll do what we always do best, is when you—when you think about how we are all collectively going to respond to this, one of the most important things we will do is we will deliver good economic outcomes to economies that have been impacted adversely by this virus,” he added.

Continued on A2

In a takeout world, top chefs create new dishes to compete over

By Kate Krader, David Stringer, Richard Vines & Joanna Ossinger | Bloomberg News

the wages, to pay our suppliers, and to cover the costs of the business.”

Restaurants from London to Seattle are contending with empty city centers and virus-related restrictions that have limited the number of customers allowed in dining rooms, or have shuttered them completely. Staying afloat means exploring all opportunities to serve customers and to keep generating at least some income.

Demand for services offering premium food delivery is now surging as quarantines and distancing measures ratchet up across Europe, the US, and parts of Asia, meaning many consumers are unable to leave their house. Shewry’s Attica is booking out almost all slots for pickup and delivery days in advance. And though the chef briefly opened a bakery as a side project during the crisis, he shuttered it after only a week to focus solely on eat-at-home plans.

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HERE’S typically about a 15-minute window each month to secure a table for two at Attica, Australia’s top-ranked restaurant, known for the use of such native ingredients as kangaroo and bunya nuts. That was before the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Like fine-dining destinations across the globe, the Melbournebased venue is confronting the challenges of lockdowns and social distancing by taking dishes straight to customers’ homes. If it isn’t chef Ben Shewry himself leaving a delivery on the doorstep, it’ll be a smartly dressed member of front-of-house staff.

“It’s the same food that Attica works with—the same chefs—and the people who are delivering are predominantly our front-of-house team in their uniforms, with a nicely pressed shirt and their apron,”

says Shewry, who personally delivered 16 orders one night last week.

“It’s about maintaining our integrity as a restaurant and as a business, just in a different way.”

The restaurant’s staff of about 35 is continuing to receive full pay as it prepares and transports as many as 80 deliveries a day of meal packages that include kangaroo with saltbush and spice-crusted lamb shoulder.

“Making a profit is not even remotely a thought, I’ll be honest,” Shewry says. “It’s about taking enough revenue to continue to pay

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.9110

Singapore’s finest, at your door IN this March 25, 2020, file photo, a closed sign hangs in the window of a shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Most of the restaurant and retail businesses in the city have closed, with some offering takeout or pick-up orders, due to the virus outbreak. AP/CHARLES KRUPA

SINGAPORE’S Les Amis, one of only two three-star Michelin restaurants in the city-state, is known for Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4722 n UK 63.1551 n HK 6.5682 n CHINA 7.1887 n SINGAPORE 35.5822 n AUSTRALIA 30.8521 n EU 55.2843 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5347

Source: BSP (April 3, 2020)

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A2 Saturday, April 4, 2020

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In a takeout world, top chefs create new dishes to compete over Continued from A1

French degustation menus. Chef Sebastien Lepinoy’s extravagant dishes range from la pomme de terre roseval au caviar (caviar served on “petals” of roseval potatoes), and wagyu beef tenderloin with experimental béarnaise sauce.

It’s never offered take-away but is responding to the outbreak by offering roast chicken to go, the kind of dish that’s much easier to eat at home than, say, precisely cooked langoustine with olive oil emulsion. “Chef wanted to offer something that could be shared,” says Merissa Goh, communications director. “He knew that the roast chicken would be perfect.”

Nearby, the world-renowned barbecue restaurant Burnt Ends has reduced dine-in capacity by about half, meaning that chef Dave Pynt has made menu items available via food delivery apps. Customers can order beef marmalade and house pickles, bone marrow buns, or A5 Saga Wagyu steaks. One of Pynt’s offerings, sourdough loaves, has been a particular hit. Burnt Ends now makes 20 a day, and “every day they’re booked out,” he says.

“Losing such a high proportion of our seating and having a lot more guests not so keen to go out—to keep our whole team employed during this time, we’ve opened up our menu,” Pynt says via telephone. “People are happy, because they don’t feel as safe eating out anymore.”

London in lockdown

DINERS in London have faced far-tighter restrictions since the nation was placed under the most

sweeping peacetime limits on freedom of movement last month.

That’s making home delivery the preferred method to access the UK capital’s best chefs.

From his Michelin-starred Hide restaurant on Piccadilly, Ollie Dabbous has a rotating team of chefs creating to-go dishes such as glazed guinea fowl with white miso, celeriac and kaffir lime. “We are offering a window of luxury—a bit of escapism— rather than thinking about Michelin,” Dabbous says.

“It’s the same brigade, the same ingredients, as the restaurant.” Waiters make the deliveries to people’s homes; they aren’t in uniform because the city’s dry cleaners have closed.

Dabbous says diners should expect a different experience from that they receive at the restaurant, which is fancy enough to have an elevator for limousines, so guests can step directly from car to dining room.

His signature coddled egg with smoked butter and mushrooms is not suited for delivery; among other obstacles, it must arrive served in a delicate eggshell.

“We are focusing on crowd pleasers, dishes that keep well and transport well,” he explains. “At home, you want food that is generous and satisfying and better than you could cook yourself. We’ve put on a kids’ menu, too, because if you don’t want to cook for adults, why would you want to cook for your kids?”

Hide’s menu is available via the Supper home-delivery service or direct from Hide. Other Michelinstarred restaurants serving via Supper include Kakkasan, whose

options include the “supreme dim sum” selection with phoenix-eye lobster, royal king crab jade dumplings, and Dover sole with black truffle for £42 ($52).

Many others, including Brat and Gymkhana, have backed away from home delivery because they don’t want to bring chefs into work on public transport, risking infection. Those restaurants are currently closed.

Dabbous says he’s receiving orders for a total of about 120 lunches and dinners per day. There’s an option for wines matched to each dish by the sommelier. The luxury of Dabbous’s food does not come cheap: The guinea fowl itself comes to £29.

Restaurants from London to Seattle are contending with empty city centers and virus-related restrictions that have limited the number of customers allowed in dining rooms, or have shuttered them completely. Staying afloat means exploring all opportunities to serve customers and to keep generating at least some income.

A 3-star family meal in the US

SEVERAL of America’s most notable fine-dining restaurants have adopted family-style meals in response to virus-mandated closures. A few, such as Michelin three-starred Manresa in Los Gatos, California, are selling shareable dishes like lasagna Bolognese, based on dinners the staff normally eats together before service starts.

At the James Beard award-winning Canlis restaurant, the website proclaims: “Fine dining is not what Seattle needs right now.”

“The city doesn’t need fancy food, not at my restaurant, not on their couch,” says co-owner Mark Canlis, by phone. He, too, is selling versions of family meals, such as dry-aged meatballs in marinara sauce.

“The role of food right now is comfort,” he says. The meatballs are made from rib-eyes that were once destined to be pricy steaks;

CHRIS SHEPHERD, a James Beard award-winning chef who owns four restaurants in Houston, seasons short ribs at his Georgia James restaurant, March 25, 2020, in Houston. For Shepherd, it’s been “an all-out hustle” to survive after local officials limited restaurants to takeout and delivery, a business environment that has become the temporary new normal for most eateries across the US during the coronavirus outbreak. But survival has meant Shepherd’s had to make tough, emotional choices, including closing three of his four restaurants and furloughing most of his 170 hourly workers, people he considers family. AP/DAVID J. PHILLIP

the restaurant is also turning dry-aged ducks that would have been carved tableside into cassoulet. Canlis is making upward of 400 meals a night; orders sell out in 30 minutes. There’s also a waiting list for its daily CSA (community-supported agriculture) boxes filled with products from local purveyors, including local eggs and smoked salmon and ham for Easter. The multiple projects have kept all of Canlis’s 115 staff members employed.

Another in-demand Michelinstarred delivery service is serving the nation’s capital at the Dabney, where the focus is on mid-Atlantic food. The $45, three-course meals include chef Jeremiah Langhorne’s signature catfish slider on sweet potato roll, as well as such rotating plates as green gumbo soup with andouille, crispy lamb shoulder, and chocolate cake.

The staff prepares 200 meals on weekdays and 250 on weekends;

the offerings have sold out almost every day since the program started. In response, the Dabney has installed an additional line to accommodate callers.

In Chicago, the modernist Michelin three-starred Alilnea has abruptly transitioned to comfort food, too. Co-owner Nick Kokonas says that when the restaurant went to a takeout model, chef Grant Achatz originally advocated elevated dishes. “Grant was thinking of doing multicourse meals in baskets and fancy stuff. He wanted to use $80 tenderloins for beef Wellington. But I said: ‘We need a plan to serve food tailored to go. And don’t price it high, because that’s tone-deaf.’”

Kokonas says Achatz responded: “You seem nuts, but you’re committed, so let’s go.”

On March 18, Alinea began selling meals of beef Wellington with 50/50 mashed potatoes (that is, almost half butter) and crème brûlée for $35. Orders sold out

within hours, and cars packed the streets outside the restaurant in Lincoln Park to pick up food.

The demand for Alinea’s to-go meals has since skyrocketed. “We did 1,000 coq au vin orders last night,” says Kokonas about the night’s menu of red wine-braised chicken thighs with bacon lardons, those 50/50 potatoes, and chocolate pot de crème. Kokonas adds that Alinea now has a waiting list “in the thousands.”

The restaurant currently employs 42 people (about half of the total prior to closing), from early morning-prep kitchen staff to front-of-the-house workers who manage the hundreds of paper delivery bags dominating the whitewalled dining room, plus those who run the bags out to the waiting cars. A few workers with iPads are stationed down the block, confirming orders. Drivers pop their trunks, meals are deposited, and dinners depart.

Victims all, friends still continued from A1

Affirming global leadership

THE top US diplomat said America is exercising its global leadership even in the campaign to stop the pandemic by leading and collaborating with countries in fighting the virus, including in Southeast Asia. It’s doing this while squaring off with Covid-19 in its own home, with New York City as the epicenter.

“My deputy is on phone calls every week with countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region, not just in Southeast Asia and Asia but throughout South Central Asia as well; Central Asia, too. We’re very concerned about what’s taking place there and the risks of the virus in the Central Asian countries. We’ve worked closely alongside them as well,” Pompeo said.

“So we talk to them every day. I talked to my Singaporean counterpart across the weekend. It might have been Friday. We continue to work alongside them to both learn from the things that Singapore did, did successfully, as well as to make sure that we’re providing the assistance through State Department efforts and efforts all across the United States government to support these countries in what will be challenging times for many

of them who don’t have health-care infrastructures that are likely to be able to, without significant support, match the challenge ahead.

We’re prepared to do everything that we can to provide support to those countries,” he added.

Whole of Southeast Asia

THE $18.3-million emergency support to the Asean adds up to the long list of assistance that the US has given to the region, which has already received nearly $3.5 billion in public-health assistance.

Last year, the US allocated $9.5 billion to support public health overseas, including in Southeast Asia, with the amount covering efforts to counter pandemic threats, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other health needs.

“Since 2009, American taxpayers have generously funded more than $100 billion in health assistance and nearly $70 billion in humanitarian assistance globally,” the US State Department said.

Globally, as of March 26, 2020, the United States is providing an initial investment of nearly $274 million in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to help countries in need. This is aside from the funding that it has already provided to multilateral

organizations such as the World Health Organization and Unicef.

Pompeo said the US is committed to help the Philippines and the Asean recover from the ravages of the Covid-19 by helping revive and prime their economies.

“I am confident in the aftermath of this; not only will the United States be there with humanitarian assistance, but it will be American ingenuity, American entrepreneurship, and American private sector that will show up in these countries and assist these people in getting their businesses back online, their employment back up to appropriate levels, and help them get their economies back on track. We’re committed to that both at the government [level], and I know the American private sector will step up as well,” he said.

“If you just go back through history, whether that’s in the 1960s, or the…Asian Tigers in the 1990s, the United States in the Pacific has always brought our best through our private sector…with foreign direct investment and technology that we have moved into this region that has lifted out—lifted out of poverty tens of millions of people in Asia,” he added.

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www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Task force taps HPG to ensure smooth delivery of food cargo

By Rene Acosta

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h e Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) has tapped the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) to secure cargo delivery trucks traveling along major thoroughfares in Luzon where the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is in place.

The JTF CV Shield is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID). It is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

The ac tivation of the HPG for the task was approved by PNP chief General Archie Gamboa.

Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, JTF CV Shield commander, said the decision to deploy HPG personnel was done to further facilitate the unhampered and unimpeded movement of cargoes that deliver food and other basic needs amid the strict implementation of home quarantine rules.

Based on the JTF CV Shield plan, the PNP-HPG is tasked to set up dedicated control points, or DCPs, on provincial boundaries and other strategic areas where cargo vehicles usually travel.

The DCPs could be set up in the existing quarantine control points, or QCPs. But once it is done, the QCPs will be immediately converted to DCPs and will be manned under the supervision of HPG personnel.

QCPs, it was recalled, are manned by policemen and soldiers and have been in charge on the inspection of both the private and cargo vehicles, as well as in ensuring that only Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) are allowed to pass. QCPs are usually set up at the boundaries between municipalities or cities and manned by the local police.

With the establishment of the DCPs, Eleazar said, all vehicles carrying cargoes like trucks, vans, pick-up and jeepneys are exempted from being flagged down or checked at the QCPs. “The objective here is to ensure that deliveries of food and other basic goods are not subjected to unnecessary and redundant inspections, which are the usual reason of the delay,” Eleazar said.

The inspection of cargo vehicles will only be done at the DCPs, and only if necessary.

“HPG units were also given the leeway to set up DCPs in areas which they deem strategic, it does not necessarily mean that the DCPs will only be set up on provincial boundaries,” Eleazar said.

“But what is important is this rule: Cargo vehicles will only be inspected at HPGmanned and HPG-supervised dedicated control points, and inspection will only be done if necessary. These cargo vehicles must not be flagged down or inspected at the QCPs,” he added.

Eleazar said the PNP chief already instructed all leaders of the HPG teams that will man the DCPs to coordinate with the local commanders, especially with the provincial directors, to establish clear guidelines on the matter.

Coordination with the National Capital Region Police Office was also ordered for all the cargo vehicles entering or passing Metro Manila.

“We understand that HPG units have limited personnel, that is why our Chief PNP said that the HPG team leaders can also request for augmentation from local police units in manning the Dedicated Control Points,” Eleazar said.

Initially, Eleazar said the DCPs will only be set up in Luzon but he said this will be expanded in the Visayas and Mindanao as soon as possible.

In case of concerns and problems relating to the movement of cargoes, drivers and owners of cargo vehicles could call the HPG hot line: 0926-2255474.

“We activated this hot line specifically for the concerns and for any complaints of drivers and owners of cargo vehicles.

We assure them that we will immediately address any of their concerns relating to cargo transport,” Eleazar said.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

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ADB: PHL growth likely to slow to 2% in 2020 but 6.5% post-pandemic rebound possible in ’21

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By Cai U. Ordinario

he Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected that the growth of the Philippine economy would slow to 2 percent this year due to coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In its Asian Development Outlook 2020, ADB said, however, that the Philippine economy’s growth is expected to rebound to 6.5 percent in 2021.

The V-shaped recovery of the Philippine economy next year, ADB said, is based on estimates that “the effects of the virus outbreak dissipate

by June 2020.”

“The main downside risk to GDP [gross domestic product] growth in 2020 comes from Covid-19 and is therefore highly unpredictable. The impact on the economy will be larger than currently assumed if the global

outbreak is prolonged beyond the first half, or if there is a sustained local transmission in the Philippines,” ADB said.

“A less-desirable U-shape recovery is possible if disrupted supply chains are not restored quickly, workers are not rehired immediately, or business are slow to restart operations,” it added.

ADB said the government has enough fiscal space to increase its resources to mitigate the worst ef fects of Cov id-19 and speed up economic recovery. Further, ensuring adequate resources for

health care will help to prepare for the outbreak.

The Manila-based multilateral development bank said private consumption is expected to recover strongly while private investment is estimated to increase together with higher public spending on infrastructure on the back of lower interest rates.

The report also stated that increased public spending on construction will drive investment in equipment and machinery, while private construction is sustained by demand for office and retail space and housing.

Meanwhile, inf lation in the country will also slow to 2.2 percent in 2020 and slightly increase to 2.4 percent in 2021. ADB said lower global oil prices will be countered by higher prices due to the African swine fever.

With inflation within the government’s 2-percent to 4-percent target, ADB said, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has “room for further monetary policy expansion.”

The country’s current-account

deficit is forecast to equal 0.3 percent of GDP in 2020 and 1.4 percent in 2021.

Meanwhile, in an online presentation of the ADO 2020, ADB Chief Economist Yasuyuki Sawada said the pandemic is the greatest threat to the Philippines and all its developing member-countries (DMCs).

The impact of Covid-19 is now expected to be larger at $2 trillion to $4.1 trillion, or 2.3 percent to 4.8 percent of global GDP. “The evolution of the global pandemic—and thus the outlook for the global and regional economy—is highly uncertain. Growth could turn out lower, and the recovery slower, than we are currently forecasting.

For this reason, strong and coordinated efforts are needed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and minimize its economic impact, especially on the most vulnerable,” Sawada said.

Sawada added the new estimates released by ADB takes into consideration the spread of Covid-19 to countries outside of China.

ADB estimated that Europe now accounts for 54 percent of the cases globally; China, 40 percent; United

States, 15 percent; and the rest of the world, account for 14 percent of total cases worldwide.

The estimates also took account of the various containment policies, such as the imposition of quarantines and travel bans. Further, Sawada said the latest economic picture depicted that the Chinese economy “did not look good.”

“No economy will escape unscathed [from this pandemic],” Sawada said in an online briefing.

The report forecasts regional growth of 2.2 percent in 2020, a downward revision of 3.3 percentage points relative to the 5.5 percent ADB had forecast in September 2019. Growth is expected to rebound to 6.2 percent in 2021, assuming that the outbreak ends and activity normalizes.

Excluding the newly industrialized economies of Hong Kong, China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; and Taipei, China, developing Asia is forecast to grow 2.4 percent this year, compared to 5.7 percent in 2019, before rebounding to 6.7 percent next year.

DFA welcomes home 123 seafarers from Spain amid Covid-19 crisis

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he Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) capped a series of repatriations by welcoming home in Manila a total of 123 Filipino seafarers from Spain.

The said repatriates, composed of 64 crew of Marella Celebratio n and 59 crew of MV World Odyssey , form the fourth batch of Filipino crew that have returned home, the DFA said in a news statement.

Earlier on Friday, 454 crew from Norwegian

A Department of Foreign Affairs personnel oversees the arrival of a group of repatriated seafarers from Spain.

Davao jeepney drivers secure jobs ahead of an anticipated ECQ order

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AVAO CITY—Jeepney drivers may find an unlikely job opening during these times of difficult public-health emergency.

Anytime soon that the city government elevates the community quarantine to an enhanced level, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has asked owners and managers of business establishments still allowed to operate to hire jeepneys to bring their workers from home to the office and back.

“Through this, you [business owners] would help the drivers have continued income when we stop public transport and nonessential work and limit further

the movement of people,” DuterteCarpio said. “You would also help declog our city buses.”

The city buses are already plying selected routes before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to prepare the city for a mass transport system using the buses as replacement to the jeepneys. On an enhanced community quarantine, the buses would be used to bring workers and health personnel to their places of work for free.

The mayor said the businesses still allowed to operate should devise ways to bring their workers to the office, saying mass transport would

be stopped. Private businesses allowed to operate are those in the food, medicine, health and finance operations. “I ask you to hire these jeepneys to ease the burden of our residents who would be out of work.”

She said the city is set to elevate to the enhanced communit y quarantine soon “ because the doctors said they were not satisfied with the compliance of the protocols of physical distancing, especially in the markets and residents seem not to care about getting infected.”

“To tell you again, this virus is scary because it kills people,” she said. Manuel T. Cayon

Clark airport body remits ₧130M to boost govt’s battle vs Covid-19

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LARK FIELD, Pampanga— The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) remitted at least P130 million to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Thursday to help boost the government’s efforts at containing the fast-spreading and deadly Covid-19.

Joshua Bingcang, CI AC officer in charge, said the amount of P130,535,077.59, representing payment of dividends due from CI AC, was remitted to the BTr on April 2.

“This is CIAC’s response to the call of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade who directed DOTr-attached

agencies to advance dividends to the Department of Finance to support government’s spending measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the implementation of RA 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,” Bingcang said.

Early last week, three other agencies attached to DOTr remitted over P10 billion in dividends to the National Treasur y.

The Philippine Ports Authority remitted over P4 billion while the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Manila International Airport Authority remitted P3 billion each.

Citing an “invisible but very dangerous enemy,” Tugade in a news statement said the DOTr is “throwing its support to this effort and to make sure that we, as a country, [will] survive to see victory in this war.”

Tugade convened a meeting of the DOTr’s Aviation Sector last week to map out contingency efforts amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aviation sector officials did a scenario analysis during the meeting to ensure DOTr’s readiness in the event of worst-case situations, giving rise to stoppage of airline operations and closure of airports.

Dawn and Star and another 446 crew members of Armonia , Meraviglia , Seaside and Divina cruise ships arrived in Manila, and another 79 seafarers from Carnival Pride , Carnival Panorama , Carnival Horizon , Carnival Breeze , and MS World Odyssey arrived in Clark.

The DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Madrid, in coordination with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the local manning agencies, made the

arrangements for the repatriation.

Representatives of OWWA, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Tourism (DOT), Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) and Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa), joined in welcoming the repatriates.

All 123 Filipinos underwent the appropriate medical protocols as required by the DOH and BoQ. The repatriates will also undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Covid-19 recoveries outpace death count in Davao region

By Manuel T. Cayon

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AVAO CITY–The brief lull in enforcing the community quarantine in Manila last month appeared to have spread the contagion to the provinces faster than those persons who carried the infection from infected countries where they came, a regional Department of Health (DOH) data indicate.

Despite that, the regional management of the disease appeared to be on good sailing, when the number of those who have recovered here from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection outpaced the number of those who died, the same DOH data said. But sadly, it said, three new primary frontliners were infected and two of them have been hospitalized.

DOH data on Covid-19 positive patients have reached 61, the biggest number of whom were accounted by this city, at 49, although 24 have remained. Those who came from Manila, including those who scampered to get out and flee the lockdown, accounted for the biggest number at 18, followed by the next controversial single source of contamination, the multimillion multi-cock derby at the Matina Galleria at 12 positive cases.

Currently, there are 34 Covid-19 positive patients that have remained at the Southern Philippines Medical Center and the Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City, and seven of them have travel history, or have worked in Manila.

Two of the nine deaths to Covid-19 infection also have history of travel in Manila.

Manila is about to end its community quarantine in the middle of this month, and the Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, expressed apprehension that lifting it this early, as cases of infection continue to spike, would increase the risk of spreading further the contagion.

“We don’t know yet how Ma-

nila would decide on the end of its quarantine. But I believe the swarms of people that would be going to the provinces are definitely carrying the infection and expose the provinces for another bout of containment,” she said.

Duterte-Carpio said they have prepared a containment program to ensure a rapid and faster tracing of any emergence of contamination as a consequence of people from Manila and those from abroad taking the Manila airport in going here.

As Davao City enforced an enhanced quarantine beginning on Saturday night, health officials here hoped that this would help pull down an estimated doubling of cases as plotted from an epidemiological projection study of the pattern of admission since last month.

The single-biggest source of contamination came from the unguarded holding of a multimillionpeso cockfight at the Matina Galleria from March 9 to 13 held supposedly in parallel celebration of the Araw ng Dabaw on March 16.

Duterte-Carpio has already suspended all mass gathering during the Araw ng Dabaw celebration as early as February to comply with the DOH warning against mass gathering.

The mayor disclosed, however, that the holding of the cockfight was granted permit by the City Council.

“We already discussed it with the Regional Task Force on Covid-19, and some councilors, who told us that they would retrieve the documents from the council, which gave its nod for the holding of such activity,” she said.

Dr. Cleo Fe Tabada, regional DOH epidemiology unit, said they have about 400 possible persons to be contacted although persons familiar with the operation of the cockpit said as many as 3,000 persons commonly flock to regular weekend cockfighting in the building.

She said other informants were volunteering the identity of more persons who were at the cockpit during those times.

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The World BusinessMirror

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Navy fires captain who sought help for virus-stricken ship

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ASHINGTON—The captain of a US Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus on his ship was fired Thursday by Navy leaders who said he created a panic by sending his memo pleading for help to too many people.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the ship’s commander, Capt. Brett Crozier “demonstrated extremely poor judgment” in the middle of a crisis. He said the captain copied too many people on the memo, which was leaked to a California newspaper and quickly spread to many news outlets.

Modly’s decision to remove Crozier as ship commander was i m me d i at e l y c o nd e m ne d b y members of the House Armed Services Committee, who called it a “destabilizing move” that will “likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness.”

Modly told Pentagon reporters during an abruptly called press conference Thursday that Crozier should have gone directly to his immediate commanders, who were already moving to help the ship.

And he said Crozier created a panic by suggesting 50 sailors could die.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, with a crew of nearly 5,000, is docked in Guam, and the Navy has said as many as 3,000 will be taken off the ship and quarantined by Friday. More than 100 sailors on the ship have tested positive for the virus, but none are hospitalized at this point.

“What it does, it undermines our efforts and the chain of command’s efforts to address this problem and creates a panic and creates the perception that the Navy is not on the job, the government is not on the job, and it’s just not true,” Modly said.

He complained that Crozier sent the memo to people outside his chain of command and in a non-secure, unclassified e-mail.

And, he said he concluded that the

In this April 13, 2018, file photo the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier is anchored off Manila Bay west of Manila, Philippines. The captain of the US Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus is asking for permission to isolate the bulk of his roughly 5,000 crew members on shore, which would take the warship out of duty in an effort to save lives. The ship is docked in Guam. AP

captain’s ability to react professionally was overwhelmed by the virus challenge, “when acting professionally was what was needed most. We do, and we should, expect more from the commanding officers of our aircraft carriers.”

Earlier this week, Modly told reporters that Crozier would not be relieved of duty for trying to protect his sailors, but left the door open for punishment if the captain leaked the memo to the press. On Thursday, Modly said

he has no information to suggest that Crozier leaked the memo to the press.

He said that if Crozier had communicated on ly w it h his leadership and not widely distributed the memo, he would likely still have a job. He took sole responsibility for the decision to fire Crozier, and said he got no pressure from the W hite House to do so.

Democrats on the House committee issued a joint statement

Singapore’s richest man gains $3.5 billion with ventilators

in support of Crozier. They said that while the captain went outside his chain of command, the pandemic presents a new set of challenges.

“Captain Crozier was justifiably concerned about the health and safety of his crew, but he did not handle the immense pressure appropriately,” the lawmakers said. “However, relieving him of his command is an overreaction.”

Sen. Jack Reed, top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services

Fresh Covid-19 testing in China finds more symptomless cases

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People shop for vegetables at Hoa Binh Market during a partial lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered a 15-day period of isolation nationwide beginning Wednesday, according to a statement on the government’s web site. Residents must stay at home and can only go outside for “essential needs,” such as food, medicines, urgent medical services or to go to work at companies permitted by the government to remain open, it said. Bloomberg

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s the coronavirus pandemic wrecks economies, markets and fortunes, three founders of a company that makes ventilators have added a combined $7 billion to their wealth this year.

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. shares have climbed 40 percent fueled by a surge in demand for the life-saving devices. Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, has flooded hospitals worldwide with patients struggling to breathe.

Chairman Li Xiting, a Singapore citizen and the city-state’s richest man, has added $3.5 billion to his net worth this year and had a $12.5-billion fortune as of end-Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him among the top 5 gainers in the world. Jeff Bezos—the world ’s richest person—is up $3.4 billion, while Bill Gates is down $15.3 billion.

The global health crisis has exposed a shortage of ventilators—the equipment health-care providers rely on to keep critically sick patients alive. While companies from Ford Motor Co. to General Motors Co. rush in to help ramp up production, Mindray’s board secretary Li Wenmei

said that global demand is at least 10 times what’s available at hospitals. New York is just six days away from exhausting its supply, according to state Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The death toll worldwide has exceeded 52,000 while infections have topped 1 million.

Italy and Spain are the most impacted in Europe, but the disease has also spread rapidly across the US, where President Donald Trump warned of 100,000 deaths or more.

The Society of Critical Care Medicine estimates that 960,000 patients would need ventilator support in the US, but the nation only has about 200,000 such machines. In Italy, the country with the most number of fatalities, a severe ventilator shortage has forced doctors to triage patients.

Until late last month, Mindray’s ventilators didn’t have approvals in the US market but the Food and Drug Administration authorized their use under an emergency rule designed to help ease the shortage.

That move has also boosted the prospects of Mindray.

T hat authorization is “prov iding opportunities for Chine s e ve nt i l ator pro duc t s to enter the US market quick ly,”

analysts led by Tian Jiaqiang at Citic Securities Co. w rote in a research note this week.

Mindray, which makes 3,000 ventilators a month, isn’t the only manufacturer of the machine in China. Beijing Aeonmed Co. also got FDA authorization last month, according to the regulator’s web site.

Shares of Jiangsu Yuyue Medical Equipment & Supply Co., another maker, have rallied 91 percent this year in Shenzhen, boosting its market value to $5.5 billion.

Giant rivals

Though Mindray, with a market capitalization of $44 billion, is dwarfed by medical-device giants like Dublin-based Medtronic Plc, the Chinese firm has the potential to expand its market share, said Nikkie Lu, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.

“It’s had a very good track record,” with its products able to enter markets like Europe and Hong Kong, she said.

In an earnings filing this week, Mindray said orders from Europe especially have increased dramatically, with Italy purchasing the first batch of almost 10,000 pieces of equipment, including ventilators and monitors.

The company, which has 17

subsidiaries in China and operations in 30 countries, makes health monitoring systems, ventilators, defibrillators, anesthesia machines and infusion systems. The firm has a direct sales team in the US and long-time global partners include Mayo Clinic, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Cleveland Clinic, according to its annual report.

Not forever

The boost to the wealth of Mindray Chairman Li, who founded the firm in 1991 along with Xu and Cheng, contrasts with the erosion in net worth of his peers in Asia. Li Kashing, Hong Kong’s richest man, has lost $7.1 billion this year as the city fights a recession from the double-whammy of the pandemic and last year’s political protests.

Singapore reported the biggest economic contraction in a decade in the first quarter, and expects a severe recession for the year.

T he ventilator boom won’t l ast forever, sa id Bloomberg Intelligence’s Lu. As more societies age, demand w ill grow for breathing-support dev ices, but not to match the scale seen during this crisis, she said.

“Sales will definitely drop after the outbreak.” Bloomberg News

Committee, said he told Modly that Navy leaders must make it clear that the decision to fire Crozier doesn’t inhibit others from taking steps to protect their sailors and Marines.

And he said the incident “raised critical questions” about the Navy’s strategy to combat the virus across the fleet.

Crozier, in his memo, raised warnings the ship was facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus and asked permission to isolate the bulk of his crew members on shore, an extraordinary move to take a carrier out of duty in an effort to save lives.

He said that removing all but 10 percent of the crew would be a “necessary risk” in order to stop the spread of the virus.

“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset, our sailors,” said Crozier.

As of Thursday, the Navy said 31 percent of the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew have been tested for the virus, and 114 tested positive. The 180 sailors that tested negative so far will move into Guam hotels for quarantine. As testing continues, the ship will keep enough sailors on board to sustain essential services and sanitize the ship in port. AP

lmost 4 out of 5 people who were positive for coronavirus in a day’s testing in China this week showed no obvious signs of Covid-19, the BMJ medical journal said.

Of 166 new infections detected, 130, or 78 percent, didn’t have symptoms, the journal reported Thursday, citing China’s National Health Commission. Most of the 36 people who did have symptoms were linked to international travel. The testing was conducted in the 24 hours through the afternoon of April 1.

The report didn’t say how many of the people who tested positive subsequently developed symptoms. The incubation period for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is about five days. The possibility of so-called presymptomatic transmission of the novel coronavirus, officially known as SARS-CoV-2, poses challenges for disease control, researchers in

Singapore said in a report Wednesday. The report described seven clusters of cases in which the disease probably spread that way.

Widespread testing in countries, including Iceland and South Korea have also identified a high proportion of infections in people without discernible symptoms, stoking concern that the number of silent carriers may be greater than previously thought.

“The possibility of presymptomatic transmission of SARSCoV-2 increases the challenges of Covid-19 containment measures, which are predicated on early detection and isolation of symptomatic persons,” Vernon J. Lee and colleagues at Singapore’s Ministry of Health wrote in the report.

“The magnitude of this impact is dependent upon the extent and duration of transmissibility while a patient is presymptomatic, which, to date, have not been clearly established.”

Commuters wearing protective masks walk through a subway station in Beijing on March 17. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Bloomberg News

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Saturday, April 4, 2020

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Trump eyeing global oil output cut of 10 million barrels a day

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Workers move a coffin with the body of a victim of coronavirus as others coffins are stored waiting for burial or cremation at the Collserola morgue in Barcelona, Spain, on April 2. AP/Emilio Morenatti

‘We need help’: Economic, health crises grow as cases top 1 million

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EW YORK—The coronavirus outbreak has thrown 10 million Americans out of work in just two weeks in the swiftest, most stunning collapse the US job market has ever witnessed, even as the public health crisis deepens in New York City, where a funeral home in a hard-hit neighborhood had 185 bodies stacked up Thursday—more than triple normal capacity.

The dire news of a record-shattering 6.6 million new unemployment claims, on top of last week’s unprecedented 3.3 million, came as economists warned unemployment could reach levels not seen since the Depression.

Competition for scarce ventilators, masks and other protective gear seemed to grow more desperate and deaths mounted with alarming speed in Italy, Spain and New York, the most lethal hot spot in the United States, with nearly 2,400 lives lost.

Worldwide the number of confirmed infections hit another gloomy milestone—1 million, with more than 50,000 deaths, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. But the true numbers are believed to be much higher because of testing shortages, many mild cases that have gone unreported and suspicions that some countries are covering up the extent of their outbreaks.

The mounting economic fallout almost cer tainly signals the onset of a global recession, with job losses that are likely to dwarf those of the Great Recession more than a decade ago.

“My anxiety is through the roof right now, not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Laura Wieder, laid off from her job managing a now-closed sports bar in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

About half of all working Americans report some kind of income loss affecting them, or a member of their household, because of the epidemic, and poor people and those without college degrees are especially likely to have lost a job, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

With over 240,000 people infected in the US and the death toll topping 5,800, sobering preparations were under way. The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Pentagon for 100,000 body bags because of the possibility funeral homes will be overwhelmed, the military said.

Corpses in white plastic were already overwhelming the Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, on Thursday.

Usually equipped to handle 40-60 bodies at a time, it was taking care of 185. Masked workers fielded phoned calls and handled file folders labeled “Covid-19” in yellow highlighter.

Owner Pat Marmo said he’s been begging families to insist hospitals hold their dead loved ones as long as possible: “This is a state of emergency,” he said. “We need help.”

The Democratic Party pushed its nominating convention back a month, to mid-August. Federal authorities proposed a $611,000 fine against the Seattle-area nursing home connected to at least 40 coronavirus deaths, accusing it of infractions that included failure to report and rapidly manage the outbreak. And a dayslong standoff in Florida was resolved when passengers aboard two cruise ships that have had several coronavirus cases and four deaths won permission to come ashore.

Elsewhere around the world, the number of people applying for welfare benefits in Britain increased nearly tenfold to almost 1 million in the past couple of weeks. At least a million in Europe are estimated to have lost their jobs over the same period, and the actual number is probably far higher. Spain alone added over 300,000 to its unemployment rolls in March.

But the job losses there appear to be far smaller than in the US because of Europe’s greater social safety nets.

With its health-care system in dire shape, Spain reported a record one-day number of deaths, 950, bringing its overall toll to about 10,000, despite signs that the infection rate is slowing.

Italy recorded 760 more deaths, for a total of 13,900, the worst of any country, but new infections continued to level off.

France recorded a running total of about 4,500 deaths in hospitals, with 471 in the past day. But officials expect the overall toll to jump significantly because they are only now starting to count deaths in nursing homes and other facilities for older people.

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said US infection data suggest not enough Americans are heeding social distancing guidelines, and the country must do better in order to emulate those European nations that have begun “to bend their curves.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that New York could run out of breathing machines in six days. He complained that states are competing against each other for protective gear and breathing machines, or are being outbid by the federal government, in a competition he likened to being on eBay. In France, a top health official in the countr y’s hard-hit eastern region said American officials swooped in at a Chinese airport to spirit away a planeload of masks that France had ordered.

Nine leading European university hospitals warned they will run out of essential medicines for Covid-19 patients in intensive care in less than two weeks.

A shipment of nearly 5,900 medical masks that Alabama’s Montgomery County received from the US government stockpile was unusable because of dry rot, the emergency management director said. The masks had a 2010 expiration date, according to the city of Montgomery.

The Trump administration was formalizing new guidance to recommend Americans wear coverings such as nonmedical masks, t-shirts or bandannas over their mouths and noses when out in public, while reserving medical-grade masks, particularly the short-in-supply N95 variety, for those dealing directly with the sick.

Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday in hopes of boosting production of medical-grade masks by Minnesota-based 3M to assist first responders.

Washington is also trying to crack down on a growing black market for protective medical supplies, Defense Production Act policy coordinator Peter Navarro said.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia. Over 200,000 people worldwide have recovered, by Johns Hopkins’ count.

With large portions of America under lockdown, job losses for the world’s biggest economy could double to 20 million and unemployment could spike to as high as 15 percent by the end of the month, many economists have said. Unemployment in the US hasn’t been that high since the tail end of the Depression, just before the US entered World War II. Roughly 90 percent of the US population is now under stay-at-home orders, and many factories, restaurants, stores and other businesses are closed or have seen sales shrivel.

Laid-off workers can tap money made available in the $2.2-trillion rescue measure passed by Congress. It adds $600 a week to unemployment benefits, extends eligibility to 39 weeks and for the first time wraps in part-timers and workers in the so-called gig economy, such as Uber drivers. AP

resident Donald J. Trump is trying to get the world to cut oil production by 10 million barrels a day in an effort to end a market-share war that sent crude prices plunging to the lowest levels in two decades.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump shocked markets by tweeting that he expected Russia and Saudi Arabia alone to cut about 10 million barrels—or roughly a tenth of global petroleum, sending oil prices soaring. A person familiar with the discussion later said that Trump, after a call with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was hoping to get other oil market participants to contribute to that cut, too. A second person familiar with the situation said Trump’s goal is purely aspirational and will ultimately hinge on whether Saudi Arabia and Russia can reach a deal.

Any across-the-board reduction of this size will face serious challenges. Saudi Arabia hasn’t voiced outright support for the move and instead called for an “urgent meeting” of the world’s oil producers to discuss a “fair agreement.” The response signals the country will only cut output if others do so and raises the question of whether the Trump administration is willing to cap America’s own production to reach a global accord.

Russia’s response was arguably harsher. In his tweet, Trump said he had spoken to MBS, who had in turn spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But a

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the conversation hadn’t happened and confirmed that no production cut had been agreed to with the Saudis.

Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2020 An Opec+ delegate familiar with the conversations similarly said Saudi Arabia and Russia had yet to agree to production cuts—let alone their size. Any proposed curbs would be conditioned upon every other major oil producer also agreeing to reduce production, the person said, asking not to be named discussing diplomatic conversations.

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters on Thursday that he expected a deal to be reached soon.

“It would be great for Russia, it would be great for Saudi Arabia— I hope they make that deal but that’s what they told me,” he said.

“Can something happen where it

doesn’t happen? I guess? In which case there’s another alternative, but I’d rather not see the other alternative.”

Import tariffs

The White House has considered tariffs on foreign oil imports to protect US producers, though the idea is opposed by some top Trump advisers led by Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, according to people familiar with the matter.

Saudi Arabia wants countries that aren’t part of the Opec+ alliance to join in any future pro-rationing. Although Riyadh hasn’t drawn up a formal list, in the past Opec+ had invited big American oil producers, Brazil and Canada to its meetings. Both Canada and Brazil have previously declined.

In a rare move for a state energy regulator, Ryan Sitton—one of three commissioners at the Texas Railroad Commission that oversees the state’s powerful oil industry—said on Twitter Thursday that he had discussed a 10 millionbarrel-a-day cut to global supplies with Russia Energy Minister Alexander Novak and planned to speak with Saudi Arabia’s energy minister. Sitton has been pitching a plan for days that would have the US and Opec working to cut production together.

The idea of a US production cut, probably executed by capping exports, is also on the table at the White House, though many oil industry representatives have warned that the approach would cause the US to cede the very “energy dominance” Trump has repeatedly celebrated.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Coronavirus Task Force news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2020. Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Bloomberg

Export limits

A chief argument is that dialing down US production is not aligned with the president’s “America First” agenda, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing lobbying strategy. For his part, Trump said Thursday that he had not discussed the possibility of US oil production cuts.

“It’s not clear what mechanism the White House could use, and I don’t think a lot of the tools that have been publicly reported would have the effect of cutting production,” said Katie Bays, cofounder of Washington-based Sandhill Strategy Llc. Restricting exports would likely be the most effective method of scaling down US production, she said. That, coupled with letting producers use the government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve as oil storage, “would functionally seem to work for the next few months to take oil off the water,” Bays said.

Internal confusion

Before Thursday, the US president had signaled some ambivalence about the oil price war. He’s remarked that low prices at the pump for American consumers amounts to a tax cut, while also saying he didn’t want the US shale drilling industry to collapse.

Conf licting messages from the Trump administration—the president has said he likes low gasoline prices, while Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and others have urged the Saudis to cut production—have undermined the US government’s leverage, one person familiar with the discussions said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The W hite House had said that, in a call with Putin earlier this week, the two leaders agreed that “stability” was important for energy markets.

Trump is scheduled to speak with the leaders of US oil producers and refiners on Friday. One industry executive said the president may have been motivated to remark on the surplus oil production because the US is literally running out of physical space to store crude.

“I think something like this was inevitable because there is nowhere to put the oil,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and chief executive of drilling services company Canary Drilling Services. “I think this is out of necessity, not out of gamesmanship.”

Bloomberg News

World Bank OKs first $1.9 billion for poor countries battling virus W

ASHINGTON— The World Bank on Thursday approved its first funds to help some of the globe’s poorer countries combat the coronavirus outbreak.

It approved total aid of $1.9 billion for 25 countries. The largest amount of assistance was $1 billion for India followed by $200 million for Pakistan, $129 million for Sri Lanka, $100 million for Afghanistan and $83 million for Ethiopia.

World Bank President David Malpass predicted the bank could provide up to $160 billion in assistance over the next 15 months.

World Bank officials said the emergency resources would include money to purchase critical medical supplies such as masks and ventilators, with the World Bank lending its procurement expertise to help obtain these supplies on global markets.

The approval of the first

round of support for 25 countries will be followed quickly with aid to another 40 countries, officials said.

In addition to the support effort, Malpass said he and Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, are lobbying the Group of 20 major industrial countries to support instituting a 14-month pause in requiring the poorest countries to make debt repayments.

Malpass said that would free up about $14 billion over the next year that the countries would be able to use to fight the coronavirus.

He said the proposal was discussed at last week’s conference call with President Donald Trump and other G-20 leaders. Malpass said he hoped it would receive approval when the World Bank’s policy panel, the Development Committee, holds a virtual meeting on April 17. AP

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Saturday, April 4, 2020

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Millennial physicians make own PPEs to protect colleagues at the frontlines

Young Bacolod doctors join Covid-19 fight

By Roderick L. Abad

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Contributor

EALTH experts would agree that protecting the first line of defense is one of the best ways to avert the rapid spread of deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) that has been confronting the world for quite some time now. But how could they be spared from the contagion if they are running out of equipment to shield themselves.

The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as protective masks, gloves, and surgical gow ns, a mong ot hers cont inues to be a grow ing concern globally, mainly due to rising demand, panic buy ing, hoarding and misuse.

In the Philippines alone, the problem on supply, and not funds, was already felt earlier as there were no PPEs available here and abroad for the government to procure.

Even if the Department of Health recently reported that the initial batch of the 1.5 million protective gears it acquired will soon arrive in the country, their stocks remain uncertain

AMID the virus pandemic, these postgraduate intern-volunteers find light in the true spirit of bayanihan as they continue to work for the frontliners with their makeshift face shield.

given the constant appeal of healthcare institutions, specially state-run hospitals, for donations of PPEs. Good thing the bayanihan among Filipinos is still alive in this difficult time that it helps to fill the void. One of the kind-hearted individuals who, in their own little way do their share to protect the health-care workers and government responders who risk their own lives to save others is Dr. Anne Marie N. Napulan.

With the help of her closest friends, doctors Joseph Causapin and Marie Stephanie Torrilla, they came up with the idea of merging with other post graduate interns (PGIs) from different

from left: Dr. Marie Stephanie Torrilla, Dr. Joseph Causapin and Dr. Anne Marie Napulan. The trio are postgraduate interns.

Bacolod hospitals to help and support the frontliners in their province.

“As future licensed doctors, we just want to protect our colleagues from harm through our simple ways of making PPEs,” she told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview.

“Help is help, no matter how big or small it is. Now is not the time for criticisms but a time to revitalize our Filipino bayanihan spirit.”

Facing the challenge AMID rising risks for medical workers to get infected by the fatal f lu that originated from Wuhan, China, the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges released a memorandum last March 14 to pull out medical interns out of all hospitals in Metro Manila—the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.

In this battle against an invisible yet formidable enemy, Napulan’s group did not think twice to immediately take a baby step forward to be of assistance to those who stand in the first row of the front lines by making face shields for them.

Even though their salary is just enough for their daily expenses, the lack of financial resources did not deter them to pursue this endeavor.

Thanks to the generosity of other people that provide them the items that they need to make these protective tools that could cost about P100 to P350 apiece.

“The materials we used were purely donations from different concerned individuals and companies,” she said of the ripple effect of their initiative to engage others who share the same cause with them.

Napulan’s team produces an average of 100 pieces of such facial gear in a day. Ideally, one of them can make a face shield in less than seven minutes.

“[Although] we do not have specific standards, we just make sure that the face shields are usable, durable and comfortable,” she said.

Using the doctors’ quarters of the hospital they work in, the group did not have to worry about their production site. What concerns them, however, is that they are not allowed to gather in large numbers because social distancing is a must.

This is why their network is composed of numerous PGIs from four different hospitals of Bacolod that produce PPEs at different locations.

Adding up to the challenge is the difficulty to meet up at a certain day because not all of them have private cars for transportation. “[So] we do carpool and work in small groups to maintain social distancing,” she pointed out. “All our efforts are solely public service. I’m just glad that we all work together to help and support the frontliners,” she said.

they produced on their own and via collaboration to the very hospital they serve. They then delivered to other medical institutions that were designated as Covid-19 centers.

“We also give out to public hospitals outside of Bacolod City,” Napulan added, while citing that around 10 hospitals in Bacolod, as well as other cities and municipalities in the north of Negros Occidental have already benefited from their project.

Their group, since the commencement of their noble activity last month, have already donated hundreds of face shields and six aerosol intubation boxes, benefiting not only the medical doctors and nurses attending to the patients, but also the security guards, janitors, auxiliary, police, and military personnel deployed in hospitals and checkpoints.

“They are extremely grateful for our simple help and support. They have been very anxious since the start of this crisis. The least we can do is to ensure their safety and protection,” noted Napulan.

Small ways create big difference THE group of upcoming millennial licensed health-care professionals expects that their battle against the virus has just started given that statistical data keep on rising as the day progresses. In Bacolod, for instance, 28 persons under investigation or PUIs and five confirmed Covid-19 patients have been recorded as of March 31.

With this in mind, their selfless

Additional aid A S pa r t of t hei r ongoi ng a ssis tance dr ive, the g roup, in par tnersh ip w it h t hei r fe l lows a nd va r iou s orga n i z at ions, a l so h ave d is t r ibuted ot her items to a id hea lt h workers i n t he bat t le aga i nst t he d readed d isea se.

According to Napulan, they have tapped a private business to create an aerosol incubation box. In the same manner, she added that they have collaborated with some of their previous residents who are now junior consultants.

“There are also other private sectors who produce their own PPEs. They send us their finished products for us to deliver to those who are in need,” she said.

As a headstart, their team initially shared the protective gears

In lieu of vitamin C capsules that were unavailable, 115 packs of fruits were distributed to health workers, including security and auxiliary personnel

dedication to contribute to the national and even global efforts to contain this novel strain of pneumococcal virus will continue, per Napulan.

“As long as this crisis is ongoing and materials are available, production continues,” she pledged. “Our purpose and goal is the safety and protection of every individual involved until Covid-19 is controlled and everything goes back to normal.”

At the moment, the group is still in need of materials for face shields like acetate, or PVC, garter, stapler, foam, scissors, and transparent/electrical tape. For the aerosol box: Transparent acrylic board. Other PPEs like surgical face masks, suit and gloves are also accepted.

W hile Napulan and her allies make the most of what is donated to them, they plan to communicate w ith other private sector groups and indiv iduals who are open for collaboration w ith them.

To do so, she bared that they w ill continue to use the social media to share posts of their production process, finished products and institution-beneficiaries.

“This is to inspire netizens and encourage them to donate and help us with our goal,” she stressed. “I believe that our efforts, big or small, is enough to help and support the frontliners.

There are also numerous groups doing the same. This is a community effort to protect our city and province, and of course our country.”

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Makati to advance midyear cash gift of senior citizens M

akati Mayor Abby Binay announced on March 31 that the city will be releasing the midyear cash gift of around 78,262 senior citizens under the Blu Card program starting April 1, along with food packs to be delivered directly to their homes.

The mayor said the city government has decided to give the cash gift ahead of the usual schedule in June to help reassure the elderly of its steadfast support.

“We want to ease the anxiety of our senior citizens and assure them that we will continue to take care of them despite the crisis,” Mayor Abby said.

“By advancing this benefit, we aim to give them the means to help out with household expenditures, especially for those whose breadwinners are daily wage earners,” she added.

The mayor said city government personnel will be delivering the cash gift and food packs right at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries so they need not go out.

“We ask our Blu Card members to stay home so they will surely be around to receive their allowance and food packs,” she said.

The mayor said senior citizens aged 60 to 69 will get P1,500 each, 70 to 79 years old, P2,000, and 80 to 89, P2,500.

The mayor said the city has made use of its data bank of vulnerable sectors to easily pinpoint those that should be prioritized in the provision of emergency assistance during critical situations such as the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The mayor said using the sectoral approach has enabled the city to implement a strategic response to the needs of its constituents, while optimizing the city's resources.

Similar efforts of the city aimed to protect and minimize the risk of exposure of senior citizens and other vulnerable residents to Covid-19 include door-to-door delivery of free maintenance medicines and other prescriptions under the Yellow Card.

Other sectors that have received financial aid and food packs from the city include over 13,000 registered PWD residents of Makati, 2,000 solo parents and over 6,800 tricycle and jeepney drivers.

The city has also distributed over 80,000 food packs to public-school students from kinder to senior high school to address their nutritional needs during the quarantine.

Under the Blu Card program, senior citizens aged 60 to 69 receive P3,000 a year, with the half given in June and the rest in December. Those 70 to 79 years old receive P4,000 while those aged 80 to 89 get P5,000 annually, also in two equal installments.

Last year, upon the recommendation of Mayor Abby, the City Council passed City Ordinance 2019-A-023 granting P10,000 in cash gift to Blu cardholders between 90 and 99 years old, and from age 101 years for as long as they live. Since 2012, the city has also granted a P100,000 centenarian incentive for qualified residents who reach 100 years of age.

For seniors, isolation changes life in varied, nuanced ways

Easter Brown, 77, of Washington, greets Michael Weber, with the nonprofit organization “We Are Family DC,” as he delivers groceries to her apartment door on March 21, 2020, in Washington. Seniors are being encouraged to stay in their homes due to the risk of Covid-19. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

By Lindsey Tanner | AP Medical Writer

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ne remembers the polio epidemic and the hardships of World War II. One is stoic about it all—because, he says, he’s already “here past the welcome.”

A third, old enough to remember the aftermath of the 1918 flu epidemic, turns to her faith in challenging times.

For older Americans, some of the people most likely to be affected badly by the coronavirus pandemic, these unusual days and the social distancing that they bring are rippling out in varied and nuanced ways.

“This kind of thing is not new for us older people,” said Mimi Allison, the former director of the National Museum of Dance, who turned 90 on Friday. She lives with one of her daughters and a teenage grandson in Asheville, North Carolina, and says the main inconvenience of social distancing is not getting to celebrate her birthday with other family members, including two great-grandchildren.

“I think we’re not as stressed as some of the younger people,” Allison said. “We know that we’re all going to come out of it. Well, some of us won’t, but most of us will, and we’re all going to be better off for it.”

Allison says she’s reminded of rationing in World War II and the polio epidemic that sickened her brother in the 1940s, when swimming pools and movie theaters were closed and families kept children close to avoid that virus. So far, she says, it’s not all that different from growing up in Buffalo, New York, when blizzards often brought life to a halt.

Kathryn Betts Adams, a gerontology consultant and former associate professor of social work at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, worries about others in situations like that confronting her own sometimes confused 91-year-old father, whose independent-living center in Connecticut has banned all visitors because of the pandemic.

Socializing in the dining room is out; he eats meals in his apartment on paper plates that had stacked up until Adams explained over the phone how to remove and replace trash bags.

The key is to maintain some kind of connection, says the Rev. Michael Pfleger, 70, a charismatic Chicago priest who normally feeds off the energy of parishioners but now faces empty pews.

His parish in a struggling South Side neighborhood includes many adults his age and older who are more vulnerable to serious Covid-19 complications and are sequestered in their homes.

Many “already feel like nobody cares about them, and then add this to it. I just think we’ve got to be very careful about people not being traumatized,” Pfleger said. He has turned to live-streaming Mass on Sundays during Lent; the prospect of a vacant church on Easter is almost unimaginable. Instead of handshakes and embraces, he’s urging phone calls, especially for seniors without Internet access or smartphones.

“It’s so important to stay connected right now, because what depression does with people is have them turn into themselves and close their world, and then depression takes over,” Pfleger said.

Mental health experts agree. Almost one in three older adults live alone, and many have chronic health problems. Those factors make them vulnerable to loneliness and depression; suicide rates among those aged 75 and older are among the highest in the nation.

“Social isolation can be a risk for depression, physical illness, even mortality,” said Katherine Ramos, a Duke University specialist in aging and mental health.

Now, she suggests, is a good time for older adults with Internet access to take free online courses and make virtual visits to cultural attractions.

For those accustomed to being more active, being confined to home and reliant on others for groceries and basic needs

can be disempowering, she said. Family members can help by involving relatives in conversations about health risks and need for social distancing.

Helen Anstead, 106, isn’t fazed by the Covid-19 pandemic because, she says, she has pretty much seen it all. Anstead was 5 when influenza swept the planet in 1918.

“I just felt the fear that the elders had when they talked about it,” she said.

The retired teacher lives by herself on a farm in rural northeast Michigan where her son raises beef cattle. Covid-19 hasn’t reached her county yet. Anstead mostly stays indoors, pays attention to the news but doesn’t worry about getting sick.

Raised in a church-going family, she says she relies on her faith and watches Mass on TV every day.

“When you’re isolated, you reach for spiritual help,” she said, “and it works for me.”

As of March 31, Johns Hopkins said the global coronavirus pandemic has infected at least 85,900, killed 37,800 worldwide, and 165,800 people recovered from the infection. The virus crippled economies and forced restrictions on the movement of millions of people in an effort to stop it from spreading further and overwhelming health-care systems. For most people, the Covid-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms, including fever and coughs.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

It has forced lifestyle adjustments for everyone.

Easter Brown, 77, works with a Washington, D.C., group that provides groceries, medicine and other services to older inner city residents. But it’s pollen season and she has asthma, making her more vulnerable to coronavirus. So, on doctor’s orders, she has stopped making deliveries. She has also stopped walking outside for exercise and instead strolls her apartment building’s hallways for 35 minutes each day. Her daughter and grandson live in the building so she doesn’t feel isolated. Crossword puzzles, studying her Bible, cooking and watching TV keep her busy.

Brown takes the small changes in her lifestyle in stride, and is still going strong—at least, “that’s what everybody says,” Brown said with a laugh. “As long as I stay in here, I don’t worry about catching it,” she said.

In Dublin, New Hampshire, 88-year-old Pete Thomas lives by himself and says, “I’m pretty happy being alone. I’m used to it.”

He does miss his regular visits with friends at a nearby diner and has turned to take-out for most his meals. But he says he doesn’t feel deprived and doesn’t worry about getting sick.

“At 88, I am sort of here past the welcome, as the saying goes,” Thomas said.

“It will be what it is, and you deal with it as you will. I see no point in getting myself concerned about something I have no control over.” AP

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, April 4, 2020 A7

Waiting for the ripe time

By Nick Tayag

my sixty-zen’S WORTH “Kung para sa iyo, para sa iyo” -Filipino saying

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fter graduation, my son was very impatient to get a job and earn his own money. Peer group pressure compounded it. He submitted his job application to many companies. And he got called for job interviews.

After the fifth job interview, he was very discouraged. More so when he learned that many of his co-graduates had already been accepted in other companies.

There was one company that was willing to take him in but I was skeptical about its stability. I thought it wasn’t right for him.

But my son was impatient to get a job, any job, so he wouldn’t lose face, but I put my foot down. He was seething, of course, in frustration and desperation.

But one day, I chance-met an acquaintance of mine working with a mutual fund company. When she found out I had a son who just graduated, she mentioned to me about a vacancy in the accounting department. I told this to my son, who reluctantly applied for it. But because he was so used to job interviews, he was at ease and was able to convey self-confidence.

He got the job.

Waiting can sometimes be discouraging, but if one has the right attitude, waiting could just be a process of building up to the right, or should I say, the ripe moment. A series of failures are sometimes the prologue to something great about to happen. A rejection can just be a redirection. That’s life.

Yes, by all means practice carpe diem, or seize the day. But learn how to wait for the ripe moment. It will come when it will come, or should I say when the moment is due. That’s when to seize it.

Most of the time, waiting situations are necessary. We wait for the seasons to change.

We wait for plants to grow. We wait to bring things to fruition.

Nothing bears fruit without a period of waiting. We wait for an idea to develop and evolve in creative work. We wait for a relationship to grow before we make a commitment. We wait for children to grow and develop their inclinations and aptitude.

When we can’t wait and we rush things prematurely, we often get botched relationships, destructive commitments, and poor judgments that can lead to catastrophe.

Everything is a matter of pacing and rhythm. Learning to wait for your turn.

Learning to wait when to strike. Learning to wait until you decide that a relationship is right.

However, that being said, waiting does not mean being laid back or being passive or being idle like the folkloric character Juan Tamad who waits all day long for the ripe guava fruit to fall, when in fact he can just

easily pluck it with his hand.

Far from it. Waiting is a positive and proactive attitude. It means being productive and creative during that period of waiting. One has to strive hard to make things happen, to influence events, to move people.

Have you heard about serendipity? It’s a knack that you should cultivate. I remember a character in a movie I saw on cable TV saying that serendipity means “keeping it.” There are acquaintances or possessions that are a result of chance encounters or discoveries that you keep without any good reason. Keep them. You never know when that person you nurture or that thing that you keep will turn out to be useful later.

That piece of paper where you wrote down a telephone number or address may prove to be useful one day. Don’t throw it away.

While waiting, establish contacts, or get into activities or endeavors that will enrich you and that will lead you to the fulfillment of your goals in what we call serendipitous manner.

Some call it Divine Providence, some call it synchronicity, and some call it Flow or The Force of the Universe. Whatever it is called, there is an unseen power or force that makes things happen for us when we deserve it.

Someone named Benjamin Hoff wrote:

“Things just happen in the right way, at the right time. At least they do when you let them, when you work with the circumstances instead of saying ‘this isn’t supposed to be happening this way,’ and trying hard to make it happen some other way. If things work, then they work the way they need to, no matter what you may think about it at the time.”

Things that have serendipitously happened in my life have proven that life has its own way of working things out. Those who believe that there is an invisible hand at work in mysterious ways, those who have faith and who believe that there is a power that is moving events and people, they tend to flow more freely with what life gives them.

It isn’t that they merely lie back like Juan Tamad and do nothing but wait for the guavas to fall. They strive hard to make things happen, to influence events, and to move people.

However, when they have done what they could, they wait and take what life gives them, even if it isn’t what they expected. They know enough to understand that there are many dynamics at work in the world that they cannot control.

So let’s just do our individual best, and then let chips fall where they may. Somehow, everything will work out for the best, even if, at times, it doesn’t seem that way. After all, the good old book assures us: “All good things come to those who wait.”

Septuagenarian doctor 7th Covid-19 case in Bataan

By Ernie Esconde | Philippine News Agency

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ALANGA CITY, Bataan—The Bataan Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 (BITF) reported on Saturday night that a 70-year-old female doctor became the seventh confirmed coronavirus patient in the province.

The task force also said that two of the seven Covid-19 cases have recovered and were transferred to a facility designated by the Department of Health (DOH) for them to finish the 14-day post admission quarantine before being subjected to yet another test.

Gov. Albert Garcia, BITF chairman, said that based on exit contact tracing, the physician had some guests from Manila at their residence here.

A report showed that on March 10, she had fever, cold, sore throat and difficulty in breathing.

The female doctor was taken to a hospital in this city on March 15.

Meanwhile, the first patient to recover was P64, male, 32 years old, followed by P303, also male, 24. The third patient from Orion town, P529, male, 55, still has cold but already without fever and diarrhea, Garcia said.

Three others from the towns of Samal, Abucay and Mariveles were confirmed positive of the virus and are confined in a hospital in this city.

As of March 28, there were 9,042 persons under monitoring and 72 patients under investigation in Bataan.

The governor asked ever yone to cooperate especially on the order to stay at home, obser ve physical distancing and to always wash their hands.

“With prayer together, we will overcome this fight,” Garcia said.

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BusinessMirror

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Catfish but not the edible kind

D.E.N.R., SMART, HUAWEI FORM ALLIANCE TO PROTECT COUNTRY’S RAIN FORESTS

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

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N Monday evening, a thread about a photographer who allegedly catfished a trans woman began trending on Twitter.

Catfish is, in this context, defined as a fake identity used for the purpose of starting a deceptive relationship. I thought it was just the usual story of someone catfishing another person for money or sex. It was apparently more complicated than that.

The photographer reportedly pretended to be someone else to make the trans woman fall in love with her online just to toy with her emotions and break her heart. Who does that? Soon afterward, other trans women came out with their own stories about the photographer, who was said to have done the same thing to her gay high-school teacher.

There are always two sides to a story but as a journalist who thinks based on logic and not emotions, things look pretty bad for the photographer and her accomplices (including her own assistant).

The story was so sensational that I fell asleep Monday night with the photographer’s name trending. By Tuesday afternoon up to the evening, her name was still trending. Had this happened when I was younger, the trans woman and the other victims would just have kept quiet and allowed what happened to consume them mentally and emotionally.

If what the photographer did was true, then these women, if and when they sue and they win their case, should be compensated so that they could seek professional help. It is difficult enough to be LGBTQ in a society that still generally considers them oddities in a way. Imagine having to deal with this emotional burden just because someone decided it was fun to see you going through this turmoil.

One of the alleged victims was a girl and she was only 16 when the photographer found her. She was “in a relationship” with the photographer for three years.

It got to a point where she had their “anniversary” tattooed on her collarbone. Imagine that as a reminder of you being duped. Imagine the pain.

It’s bad enough to be young, in love and not have the means to be with the person you love because at this age, you need your parents’ permission for everything. It is doubly difficult to be in love when you’re at this age, presumably not yet emotionally stable, and that person you supposedly love is not even real.

Hopefully, something good for the women will come out of these Twitter threads. These trans women deserve better. It is difficult being a woman in any society. It is even more difficult when you’re being targeted by predators and discriminated upon by bigots. As I write this, I’ve been quarantined for 19 days. I have not walked outside my house in as many

BASED on the best-selling novel: Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 starring Jung Yu-mi and Gong Yoo is now available on Viu.

days. I have not worn shoes nor makeup but I will not complain. I am privileged to be able to stay home and be with my family in these difficult times.

I think of the Grab and Lalamove riders out there still on their bikes, running errands for people and buying meals, and I wish I had the money and food to give to them. I think of the tricycle drivers in my neighborhood who have not been able to earn a living since mid-March.

■■■ I HAVE hardly been on Netflix, that’s the truth. But there is one movie on Viu that I do want to watch. It’s based on the popular and controversial feminist book Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. The book is simple. It’s about a Korean woman who is married and what she goes through. Many of her experiences may seem normal and commonplace but they show how society is not fair to women.

Kim Ji-young is the story of a housewife who stays home to take care of her husband and child.

When she falls into postpartum depression, her supportive husband encourages her to seek help. Her conversations with her psychiatrist talk about the gender roles that are so rooted society. Kim Ji-young

is the embodiment of every woman—daughter, wife, mother, friend and colleague.

The movie’s director didn’t focus on a pessimistic approach to telling the story.

“I wanted to send a hopeful message to all Kim Jiyoungs in 2019 that they are living in a better world than Ji-young’s mother, and their children will be, as well,” said Kim Do-young. The movie stars Jung Yu-mi and Gong Yoo who have worked together before in Silenced and Train to Busan.

You can watch Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 on Viu, the go-to streaming platform for the latest Korean and Asian dramas and variety shows. The Viu app is available as a free download on Google Play Store and the App Store. You can access it on your browser at www.viu.com. The South Korean feminist movie is available to Viu Premium subscribers.

You can get your Viu Premium subscription for as low as P29 for three days. Upgrade to Premium through in-app purchase or credit card. If you prefer charging your subscription to your mobile load, you can upgrade via Globe.

For online shoppers, subscriptions are also available on Lazada and Shopee. ■

KonsultaMD provides 30-day free public access to medical advice KONSULTAMD is offering the public a 30day free access to medical advice through its telemedicine hotline to complement existing government efforts in managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

The free Konsulta subscription is open until April 13 to anyone without existing membership.

They may call 78880 via Globe/TM mobile phone or (02) 77988000 via Globe landline, other landline in Metro Manila, and other mobile networks.

KonsultaMD is a 24/7 health hotline service manned by skilled and licensed Filipino doctors who provide medical assessment and advice, including basic health care and permissible medication, over the phone. With KonsultaMD, the public will be able to get immediate and affordable medical attention, anytime, anywhere in the Philippines.

Due to limited capacity of medical institutions compared to the fast-growing number of people needing immediate medical attention, the

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Department of Health is looking at telemedicine, particularly primary care teleconsultation, to alleviate surge and minimize risks posed by unnecessary visits to hospitals.

“There is an overwhelming demand for the health-care industry and we understand the difficulties both the government and private medical institutions are facing to provide the public with the assistance they need during this outbreak. We are here to help our country by providing everyone with free access to a doctor so that they can seek medical advice without leaving their homes,” said Maridol Ylanan, CEO of Global Telehealth Inc. which operates KonsultaMD. KonsultaMD is equipped with modules and internal protocols in handling different health issues, including Covid-19 and provides a telephone triage or a means of determining the urgency of the situation to allow hospitals to focus on critical cases.

KonsultaMD is an affiliate of 917Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has tapped the private sector to help protect the country’s rain forests.

PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications and Huawei Technologies Philippines (Huawei) recently formed a partnership with the DENR to pilot test an Internet of Things (IoT) solution that taps mobile technology to detect and record rain forest sounds that can help prevent illegal logging and poaching activities in the country’s rain forests.

“The DENR welcomes this collaboration between the government and the private sector to help protect the country’s forest cover. This supports Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu’s resolve to level up the enforcement mandate and capability of DENR by employing technology to complement our current systems,” Nilo Tamoria, executive director of the DENR Environmental Protection and Enforcement Task Force, said in a press statement.

“This initiative highlights the important role of technology in nation-building. As the country’s leading digital services providers, PLDT and Smart are in a unique position to leverage our platforms and technical expertise to aid in the protection of the environment. It is our hope that this significant step will not only benefit policy-makers and forest workers, but also surrounding communities who rely on rain forests for food, shelter and livelihood,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT chairman and chief executive officer underscored in a press statement.

The solution has been successfully deployed to five DENR-designated areas in Palawan.

Developed by US-based nongovernmental organization, Rainforest Connection, the innovation makes use of old cell phones to monitor and record ambient sounds of priority forest areas identified by the DENR. The bioacoustics are then uploaded to a cloud service using Smart connectivity. The information can be accessed via the Rainforest Connection mobile application.

Information on the mobile app may be used by key community stakeholders to interpret patterns of forest activity and take corresponding action in affected areas.

Powered by solar panels and wireless connectivity, the mobile devices will function as “Rainforest Guardians” or listening posts for sounds of the forest.

The DENR forest rangers can also access the audio recordings and get real-time recordings of chainsaws, trucks and other sounds of forest destruction.

“At Smart, an integral part of our services are initiatives that help improve the well-being of the communities we serve. By being at the forefront of technology and environmental initiatives such as this, and by leveraging our vast network coverage, Smart aims to help curb the impact of global warming and climate change,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, president and CEO of Smart Communications and executive vice president and chief revenue officer of PLDT. As the first Philippine telco partner, Smart provided wireless connectivity to all the designated pilot sites in Palawan, namely: Cadlao Island, Maranlao and Pasadena in El Nido; and New Guinlo and Pancol in Taytay.

“As the pioneer connectivity partner for this initiative, we have been able to successfully demonstrate a complete and interoperable ecosystem for Rainforest Connection’s innovation—that which connects the key government units, primary NGOs, technology partners, and telcos to help guard the rain forests in the Philippines. Our support for this initiative underscores our commitment to provide services that promote environment stewardship and sustainability,” said Chaye Cabal-Revilla, PLDT SVP and group controller and concurrent PLDT Group chief sustainability officer.

Topher White, CEO of Rainforest Connection, said their partnership with Huawei and Smart gave them the opportunity to enable DENR forest rangers to face the challenges and dangers in protecting the country’s the last frontier through technology.

The solution has been successfully rolled out in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru, Romania and South Africa. Results have also been promising since its implementation in the Philippines. After the pilot rollout of Rainforest Connection in the country, several alerts of illegal logging in Palawan were verified and foiled by forest rangers.

“This initiative highlights our seriousness in helping create a more sustainable future for families, communities and the country,” Cabal-Revilla concluded.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

COURSE LAUNCHED ON DESIGNING ONLINE DISTANCE LEARNING FOR SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES

SCHOOLS, colleges and universities might soon be considering a transition of many of their classes and courses to online distance learning during the Covid-19 crisis, which has been keeping many students at home and away from their physical classrooms. While it is mostly the college-level officers and presidents who have been using these platforms even before the pandemic struck, their peers in the elementary and high school levels might also resort to them as an alternative.

Rex Book Store, the country’s leading learning solution provider, has launched an online course, “Designing for Online Distance Learning,” for educational institutions and educators who either want to establish their own online distance learning platform, or strengthen their existing ones by improving the student-teacher interface despite their different locations.

Rex Book Store has also made the course userfriendly especially for first-time distance learning teachers who are exploring this new territory. The course also makes the student more pro-active by placing him at the center of the design of the online classes. While teachers have been the focus in the traditional classroom set-up, distance learning empowers the student to be more responsible for the development of his studies while tapping his intrinsic creativity and intelligence.

In transitioning to online distance learning, the main misconception is for the teacher to design learning experiences that replicate a classroom faceto-face instruction.

Says Francis Jim Tuscano, technology education expert and a Rex Book Store partner, “Online distance learning does not and should not replicate classroom encounters. Instead, teachers can design online learning experiences that sustain interaction and deeper learning through well-planned synchronous and asynchronous, individual or collaborative learning experiences.

“The big idea behind online learning is to design learning structures or experiences that allow for a maximum level of interaction but still give students the right amount of independence to manage their learning pace and choices.”

At the core of the designing online learning is the teacher’s keen and in-depth understanding of the learners’ individual and collective environment in order to make the plan responsive to their needs and current situations. The learning experiences should also be aligned with the school’s learning goals.

Tuscano also points out two unique challenges that the newbie online teacher must keep in mind: geographical distance and the students’ sense of isolation.

Tuscano says, “For distance learning, the main reality is that the teacher and students are separated from each other. They are in their own locations with no physical interaction. The students may feel lonely, unmotivated, and disconnected because of the nonphysical presence of the teacher and their classmates.” According to distance education pioneer and visionary Michael Moore, the psychological effects are a result of the wide transactional distance between the learner and the teacher.

To reduce this gap or loneliness, Tuscano advises teachers and designers of online distance learning courses to always consider the amount of interaction that sustains learner engagement that leads to better learning. These means of interactions allow the learner to connect with the teacher, other learners, and even with the content.

Tony Bates of the SECTIONS Model for Tech Selection gives the following criteria to help educators assess the quality and effectiveness of various edtech platforms: ■ Will students be able to use it?

■ Does it have a learner/teacher-friendly learning curve?

■ Is it a reasonable and justifiable investment?

■ Does it support or help enable better teaching, instruction and assessment?

■ Does it support active interaction among student, teachers and content?

■ Is there support for teachers and learners?

■ Does it allow students to network with other experts and sources?

■ Does it comply with digital security and privacy laws?

Access the free online course on: https://app. schoology.com/register. Use the course code: 3GJ4-DH9QPQ6BT.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Meet Eric Yuan, the man who made your Zoom meetings possible

I

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press

Do you think we will find out that people can be more productive at home?

It’s too early to tell whether it’s more productive or less productive, at least for me. I am finding I have even more meetings, and every day I miss the lunch time, so I am also learning how to adapt to all this working from home.

Zoom primarily has been used by businesses. Are you discovering new social applications now that people are using it to virtually hang out too?

That is not our intention. But kids are pretty

AP

smart, they always figure out new use cases. There are some very cool consumer use cases. For now, I am just telling my team and reminding myself this is a very critical time because we are in a crisis. So we are focusing on two things: To serve our existing customers and make sure our service is always great quality and is always up. The second thing is how can we help the local community, like the K-12 schools, handle this crisis. Anything else, I told our team, that’s just a distraction.

Zoom’s stock has been soaring while most of the market has been plunging. How are you managing that?

It’s good that I am 50 now. If you had asked me this question when I was 25, I would tell you, “Yes,

we are very excited about the stock price!” But, now, seriously, I can tell you the truth, it don’t matter. So the stock is up, it’s good for our investors. If it’s down, we keep working hard. I really do not focus on the stock price.

Do you still see personal, physical interaction as an important element in society?

I think for the foreseeable future, that’s absolutely right. We still haven’t been able to have cool features like a virtual hug that you can actually feel. We talk about that, but we don’t have that. Or when you drink tea or coffee, with one click you can digitize a smell.

Those features will be available with AR (augmented reality) technology, but for now it’s too early. That’s why you have to have the personal interactions. ■

GCash, partners raise over P18.14M in donations to fight Covid-19 THE leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, Gcash has facilitated over P18.14 million in donations for the collective fight against Covid-19, helping support Filipino frontline work force and provide assistance to those who were gravely affected by the pandemic.

The amount, which was tallied as of March 31, is composed of donations made directly to partner organizations and through the GCash-led digital donation drive, called #FightCOVID19. These funds were used to purchase medical gear to protect frontline health workers from contracting the virus, as well as relief goods for the families that were hit the most by the effects of the enhanced community lockdown.

“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Filipino GCash users. We know very well that everyone is affected by the pandemic, and we at GCash are happy to see that our platform is being maximized during these trying times,” GCash Chief Technology and Operations Officer Pebbles Sy-Manalang said. GCash users forwarded their donations via GCash through its various services.

Based on the current tally, almost P12 million were collected via the Scan-to-Pay service of GCash.

They were sent directly to Caritas Manila, ABS-CBN Foundation, Globe BridgeCom, Generation Hope, Hapag Asa Foundation, Philippine Red Cross, World Vision and Unicef.

GCash users also donated over P16,500 to the ABSCBN Foundation through the Send Money service of GCash. ABS-CBN Foundation, Unicef, and the Philippine Red Cross also received support via the Pay Bills service on the mobile money platform. #FightCOVID19, the GCash-led digital donation drive, on the other hand, facilitated over P5.58 million

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ERIC YUAN, the CEO of Zoom which is now being used by millions of people working from home as part of the intensifying fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

F you hadn’t already heard have of Zoom Video Communications, there is a decent chance you’ve made its acquaintance over the past few weeks.

Millions of people are now working from home as part of the intensifying fight against the coronavirus outbreak. In addition to using the video conference for work, many are also tapping it to hold virtual playdates for their kids and virtual happy hours with friends and family banned from gathering in public places.

The crisis has cast a spotlight on Zoom, a company founded nine years ago by its CEO Eric Yuan after he defected from Cisco Systems and took about 40 engineers with him. He wanted to refine a concept he first dreamed up during the 1990s as a college student in China, when he dreaded the 10-hour train trips to see his then-girlfriend, now his wife.

Now Zoom is booming, just 11 months after it made its debut on the stock market. While the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has fallen by 25 percent since its record high on February 19, Zoom’s stock has soared 46 percent as investors bet on its service becoming a mainstream staple in life after the coronavirus.

Yuan, 50, recently spoke to The Associated Press during an interview conducted on Zoom. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Are these strange times providing a glimpse at how we are going to be working and living in the future?

I hope this crisis can be over very, very soon, but one one thing I know for sure is that companies will learn this is the way to work. I am pretty sure almost every company will be thinking about it and say, “Hey, maybe working from home makes sense,” and maybe let every employee work from home, maybe once a week. Previously, a lot of businesses didn’t even want to try.

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in donations from various GCash users nationwide.

The digital fund-raising is part of GCash for Good, the corporate social responsibility program of GCash.

The funds raised via #FightCOVID19 is equally divided among seven partner organizations, namely: the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, the Philippine Red Cross, World Vision, UP Medical Foundation, PGH Foundation Inc., ABS-CBN Foundation and Ayala Foundation. As advised, GCash will include the Lung Center of the Philippines Physicians Association starting April 1 to replace the UP Medical Foundation as beneficiary.

GCash users may continue to send their support via #FightCOVID19. To support, GCash users simply have to click on the “Pay Bills” icon on their GCash app, choose the “Others” tab, and click on “FightCOVID19.” Users then have to enter their name and the amount that they are donating to confirm their donation.

Aside from these, individuals are using GCash to conduct their own fund-raising activities to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the lives of Filipinos, especially those who have been displaced.

Through the funds that they gather via GCash, good-hearted individuals are supporting families in different parts of the Philippines by providing them care packages, and health workers by securing personal protective equipment (PPEs) for them.

“The willingness of the Filipino people to band together—all while maintaining social distancing—is what keeps us going despite working with limited capacities due to health protocols. We hope that as we go through these challenges together, we would see more people willingly supporting those who are deeply in need,” Sy-Manalang said.

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The show must go on: Huawei ‘Zooms’ ahead with P40 Series launch CONTINUED FROM A11

OVERFLOW DISPLAY, FAMILIAR DESIGN

BOTH the Huawei P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ are equipped with what the company calls a Quad-Curve Overflow Display. Inspired by the art of motion, the display takes on a curved edge on all four sides, creating a shape that is reminiscent of water on the cusp of overflowing from the rim of a filled cup. The super narrow bezels and streamlined round corners ensure an ergonomic hold and a near borderless look, while an enhanced in-screen fingerprint reader offers 30 percent faster biometric authentication.

When the Samsung Note 10 was released late last year, some pointed out that it looked a lot like the P30 Pro. This time, it’s the P40 Series that looks similar to the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, particularly the back because of the shape and size of the camera modules.

Some call it a convergent evolution as designers don’t really have a lot of options to position three, four, or five cameras without making camera modules even larger or oddly-shaped.

As for the colors, your choices for the P40 and P40 Pro include the glossy Deep Sea Blue, or a unique refractive matte glass finish in Blush Gold and Silver Frost. The Huawei P40 Pro+ is different as it features an exquisite nano-tech ceramic back panel.

The Huawei P40 Series is powered by Kirin 990 5G that can deliver integrated 5G connectivity with the most comprehensive 5G band support, robust AI performance and power efficiency. Display responsiveness and gaming experience are taken to the next level by the upgraded graphics rendering engine making the most of the 90Hz panel on the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+.

The P40 series runs on Android 10 with EMUI 10.1.

Two upcoming features to look forward to via HOTA updates are MeeTime, which supports 1080p Full HD video calls on Huawei smartphones and tablets, and the Huawei Vision TV and Celia, a voice-enabled assistant.

Huawei likewise continues to improve its own App Gallery, working in close collaboration with global developers to offer a wide range of global and local apps. There’s also a rich library of quality entertainment media on Huawei Video, Huawei Music and Huawei Reader, with new additions from top content providers being added on a continuous basis.

Finally, since the community quarantine still in effect, Huawei has partnered with Lazada, Shopee and MemoXpress so you don’t have to leave the house to order and just wait for it to be delivered. Preorders will be until April 24 and will come with freebies worth as much as P12,285. This includes Huawei Freebuds (P8,990), Band 4 (P1,890), 50GB cloud storage for one year and GCash voucher, PayMaya credits, GMovies discount and a Booky Prime membership for three months. The new P40 and P40 Pro retails at P36,990 and P50,990, respectively. ■

IN journalist Donna Borak’s March 17, online meditation session she hosted over Zoom, she leads a group to help ease the stress of isolation. Borak decided to share her skills in both the practice of meditation and yoga to help those in quarantine recharge and reconnect. COURTESY OF DONNA BORAK VIA AP

Virtual volunteers offer help to strangers amid virus stress

BY MARIAM FAM The Associated Press

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INTER PARK, Florida—Sitting crosslegged in her living room, Donna Borak rested her palm on her heart as she guided a small group of virtual participants in meditation and deep breathing. Notice where you might be holding tension, she instructed.

“Send your attention to your head...maybe acknowledging it’s OK if you’ve been worried and scared,” she told them “Maybe finding comfort that we are all in this together.”

From her Washington, D.C., home, Borak has been hosting a free virtual meditation class daily for anyone who wants “a respite during such a moment of uncertainty.” Attendees are encouraged to bring children, loved ones or pets. “Even your plants.”

“Inhale, maybe even a little bit more deeply this time, slowly letting the air out of your mouth.”

As social distancing has emerged as a key tool to staunch the spread of the coronavirus, ordinary people around the globe have turned to technology to overcome physical barriers. In ways big and small, they are forging new connections and comforting others inundated by bad news about the virus or burdened by unpaid bills.

Borak wanted to carve out a space for togetherness—for a stressed-out parent, a manager or a laid-off employee to take a break. So far, attendees joining her class on Zoom videoconferencing have

mainly been friends and family, and she’s been sharing sessions on Instagram.

“While a meditation class for 15 minutes doesn’t solve financial stress or help to explain what will happen next or address serious health care concerns, to me, it’s an opportunity to not be alone and to not exist in isolation,” she said by phone. “I didn’t want anyone to feel alone.” For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.

A journalist whose work stints included The Associated Press and who had been attending yoga teacher training, Borak draws lessons from such testing times. “Going forward, for every time that we opted out at the last minute of attending an event or a happy hour or a dinner, we’ll hopefully feel differently about it when we come back together again,” she said.

“We need each other.”

In Austin, Texas, Catherine Woodiwiss has also gone online to provide relief of a different kind. She knew that the cancellation of South by Southwest—a film, music and technology festival that attracts hundreds of thousands to Austin—could hit artists and small business owners hard.

Her first instinct to help by buying local wasn’t going to work amid the social distancing and various shutdowns. So she encouraged those who lost income to reach out online.

“I can’t give a ton, but I can give something, and will as much/or as long as I can,” she wrote on Twitter.

She said takers included an 18-year-old pregnant woman who works as a cashier and said her store would be closed for a month and a musician whose shows would have covered rent and other expenses.

She used Venmo to send money directly after doing a “light vetting” of recipients by looking at their accounts. “I’m comfortable erring on the side of being of help,” she said. “In a moment of need, I am comfortable giving to who asked for it.”

There are “times that I have been very much in need of financial support from other people,” Woodiwiss said in a phone interview. “I am very lucky to be at. She’s been setting aside money for a while to help with different causes. Now coronavirus is her cause—and she’s part of a bigger effort. On her social-media feeds, she’s seen people come together in new ways, holding “singing circles” or sharing selfquarantine recipes.

Borak and Woodiwiss are among an army of virtual volunteers worldwide donating time and money. Some have used the Internet to set up fooddelivery services to the elderly. One mother issued an international call for help celebrating the birthdays of her self-quarantined children.

“People are trying to figure out how to belong with each other...when we are physically separate,” Woodiwiss said. “In this moment of real, relatively unanticipated crisis, it’s been really great to see people show up.” ■

Here’s why cloud is the key to business continuity and growth THE emergence of cloud service in the digital era is developing at an incredible pace. Locally, cloud computing is expected to take account for 13 percent of the Philippine IT services market by 2020 driven by government agencies and SMEs according to BMI Research report. Businesses have started adopting cloud service which productively improves their operations and, soon, other companies will follow suit.

With the evolving workplace environment, cloud proves to be an ideal solution for every enterprise. Eastern Communications (www.eastern.com.ph), one of the premier telecommunications companies in the country, lists down reasons why the cloud can be an asset for a business’s continuity and growth.

■ WORK FLEXIBILITY. Cloud storage allows users to store files in such a way that members of an organization could access it anytime and anywhere. This offers significant help especially now that companies have started implementing a

skeletal work force or work from home arrangements for their employees due to the threat of Covid-19.

Businesses can continue doing their tasks from any location and conveniently access necessary data as long as an Internet connection is available. Cloud allows employees to manage their workflows better with easier communication and team collaboration while accessing data from a central location. This can prevent organizations from halting operations even in challenging situations such as work suspension and calamity.

■ COST EFFICIENCY. Simply put, businesses save huge amounts of money by investing on cloud storage services.

The purchase cost ensures maximum utilization of a budget on the needed software features of the business. Overhead is the responsibility of the service provider. This big cut on overhead expenses could be used instead for business expansion.

■ SECURED DATA BACKUP. Official work files contain a lot of essential information. From images to documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, it is necessary for businesses to keep a secure copy and backup of these files.

It is not advisable for businesses to depend solely on external servers and drives, or on printed documents for data storage since these are prone to data corruption. By storing data in the cloud, businesses are guaranteed of file safety and data loss is no longer a concern even during uncontrolled environmental hazards such as natural calamities or accidents. Data will be saved safely in the cloud.

■ DATA PROTECTION. Through a virtual environment, cloud services provide protection in the event of primary operations failure. It does not only store data but also protects it from untoward situations. Cloud services offer ease of mind so businesses would not have to worry about permanent loss of critical data, like what Eastern Cloud-based Disaster

Recovery provides.

■ INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY. Cloud storage frees up spaces from resources such as desktops and servers. Having a clean, uncluttered, and well-organized workplace helps reduce waste while optimizing productivity. It is also useful for employees who work from home as necessary files would be accessible at the comfort of their home, making them as productive as they are when in the office.

With the fast-changing business environment, cloud services make it easier for companies to access data and information more efficiently. It is also important to choose the right service provider for a reliable and satisfactory cloud experience for your business. Eastern Cloud is one of Eastern Communications’ latest ICT solutions offering a world-class method of storing and sharing company data and applications securely over the Internet, thereby advancing overall business performance.

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THE Huawei P40 Pro+ in Black (left) and Ice White

Fitbit data reveals the impact of coronavirus on global activity AS the Covid-19 pandemic continues to evolve, this has had a major impact on physical activity levels for over 30 million active Fitbit users around the globe.

Fitbit’s mission has always been to help people around the world get healthier, and it is more important than ever to do so during these challenging times.

Data gathered from Fitbit users around the world reveals the impact of Covid-19 on global physical activity. As countries adapt to social distancing and community quarantines, it is not a surprise that almost all countries studied by Fitbit experienced a statistically significant decline in average step count, comparted to that of the same time in the previous year.

Fitbit data scientists established a baseline for normal activity levels around step count in each area by analyzing the activity of millions of Fitbit users with similar characteristics during the same week from the previous year. According to this analysis, during the week of March 22, 2020, the US saw a 12-percent decline in step count.

Data also reveals how step count behavior has changed over time on a country-by-country basis.

For example, the deviation from normal activity for this time last year occurred much earlier in the year for countries like China and Hong Kong, which were the first to face Covid-19. There are also reasons for optimism, as the graphs reveal that step counts are starting to rise again in China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Given the current circumstances, Fitbit understands that it is a difficult time to focus on one’s own health and fitness. Here are the brand’s tips to stay healthy and active to boost your mood and immunity: ■ TRY A 90-DAY TRIAL OF FITBIT PREMIUM.To make health more accessible, Fitbit is offering a free 90-day trial of Fitbit Premium to users wherever Premium is available, and offering 40 new pieces of Premium content for free in the Fitbit app. Premium offers access to hundreds of workouts categorized by time, activity, and fitness level, so you can easily find what’s right for you.

■ MAINTAIN HEALTHY HABITS LIKE DRINKING LOTS OF WATER AND EATING NUTRITIOUS FOOD. Need some inspiration when it comes to cooking healthy meals at home? Try whipping up some of Fitbit’s healthy recipes. These recipes are free for anyone to access at the Fitbit blog (bit.ly/2X2vvig).

■ REMEMBER TO TAKE MENTAL-HEALTH BREAKS. Are you working remotely and can’t seem to turn off? Do you keep refreshing your social-media feeds to get the latest intel? In this time of crisis and uncertainty, remembering to take regular mental-health breaks is crucial. In fact, studies show that taking a few moments to relax each day can reduce blood pressure and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. The Relax app provides personalized deep breathing sessions that can help you more easily find moments of calm throughout your day. Choose between twominute or five-minute long sessions.

■ SUPPORT EACH OTHER. Invite friends and family to join you in Fitbit Challenges. These challenges allow you to start a friendly competition, and to invite friends and fam to get more steps, support each other, and keep getting your gains virtually. Fitbit Challenges are all about pushing to see who can take the most steps over the course of one day, weekdays, or weekend. Because they are based on the total number of steps achieved—not who reaches a certain step count first—they’re a great option for friends in different time zones.

The show must go on: Huawei ‘Zooms’ ahead with P40 Series launch TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

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VEN without the global pandemic caused by the coronavirus, the past year had already been a tumultuous time for Huawei since being placed on the US trade blacklist.

So it was not surprising that world’s third-biggest smartphone company proceeded with the launch of its always anticipated P Series on the exact same date as last year, March 26.

Yes, its a tough time to launch a snazzy new device, and getting a new phone might be the last thing on everyone’s mind. But for us tech writers, it gave us something to be excited about after being isolated for the past couple of weeks. We’ve also gotten used to these launch events being streamed anyways, and from the looks of things, it may be the norm for all the upcoming devices in the next few months.

If you do plan on getting a P40 or P40 Pro, Huawei has this nice preorder package with some interesting freebies, and you don’t even have to go out of your house to get it, but more on than later.

As they say, good things come in threes, and just like Samsung and Apple, Huawei is also releasing a trio of variants this year, all built on the glowing reputation of the P Series’ excellent cameras.

‘AGE OF VISIONARY PHOTOGRAPHY’

I ADMIT, when I first read that tagline, it reminded me of a cartoon series I used to watch way back when I was a kid, called Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

Turns out, it’s quite apt tagline, as the P40 introduces a radical new camera system that captures excellent photos in the dark—it’s almost like magic!

Technically speaking however, it’s because of Huawei’s advanced Ultra Vision Leica camera system—a triple-camera for the P40, quad-camera for the P40 Pro and a new penta-camera for the P40 Pro+.

The standard P40 delivers outstanding photographic

results with ultra wide-angle, wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The P40 Pro features an evolution of the Leica Quad Camera with a more powerful Ultra Wide Cine Camera and ToF Camera alongside 50x SuperSensing Zoom. The P40 Pro+ lets consumers see the unprecedented with the SuperZoom Array, which supports 10x true optical zoom and 100x maximum digital zoom. The Ultra Vision Sensor is Huawei’s largest CMOS sensor to date measuring 1/1.28 inches diagonally. It supports pixel binning to achieve a pixel size of 2.44μm and Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus for high-speed focus at any time of day. The Huawei XD Fusion Engine integrates and processes data from multiple cameras to generate a comprehensive improvement in picture quality.

The P30 Pro made headlines last year for its zooming capabilities and the P40 takes that further, and you even closer—and clearer—to your subject with 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x maximum digital zoom. For the first time ever, the 5x Optical Telephoto Camera in the P40 Pro includes a RYYB color filter array to boost light intake and improve quality of zoomed shots. The P40 Pro+ has a 100x SuperZoom Array with a new periscope design that reflects light five times, extending the light path by 178 percent to support 10x true optical zoom. The optically stabilized Ultra Vision Wide Camera and SuperZoom Array work in tandem with AI to realize Triple OIS+AIS for vastly improved photo and video stabilization.

Skin tone and texture are faithfully reproduced by a new Multi-Spectrum Color Temperature Sensor and AI AWB algorithm that boost color accuracy by 45 percent. Deep learning algorithms provide realtime portrait optimizations that enhance lighting and detail. Both the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ have a 32MP AF Camera and IR Depth Camera that support autofocus and Bokeh reproduction to deliver the same outstanding portrait effects that are signature to Huawei devices, as well as IR Face Unlock for device unlock even in low light conditions.

As for the camera features, the most interesting addition is “Golden Snap,” which includes AI Best Moment, which chooses the best frames from a Moving Picture; AI Remove Reflection that removes glare; and like Thanos’ “snap,” AI Remove Passerby, which can remove unwanted subjects (photo bombers, for example) from your perfect shot.

Huawei also improved the video capabilities of

the P40 series. The 40MP Ultra Wide Cine Camera in the Pro and Pro+ has a focal length that is equivalent to 18mm and a 1/1.54-inch sensor supporting the 3:2 aspect ratio. SedecimPixel Fusion Technology is built into this camera to support 16-in-1 pixel binning, producing super pixels that measure 4.48μm to boost light sensitivity up to ISO51200 and enable 7680fps Ultra Slow-Motion video capture. It can even support real-time bokeh effects for your videos to help highlight the main subject of the footage. The telephoto camera can capture high-quality zoom footage, as well as 4K time-lapse videos.

With these camera creds, its no wonder that the Huawei P40 Pro has again reclaimed the title of best smartphone camera from the DxOMark with a top score of 128 points. Huawei’s flagship got a photo score of 140 and a video score of 105, both setting new records. DxOMark pointed out that in tests the P40 Pro delivered very wide dynamic range, good levels of detail at medium and long range, as well as bokeh shots, and praised its autofocus performance and exposure at night.

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RICHARD YU, Huawei consumer business group CEO, unveils the latest P40 Series smartphones.

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Saturday, April 4, 2020

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

BILES: NOTHING IS SET IN STONE WHEN asked if Simone Biles is definitely planning to push toward Tokyo despite the delay, she stops short of an unqualified yes. AP

Patriots use team plane to fly N95 masks from China

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OSTON—Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker found himself in need of an assist to help the state fight the coronavirus pandemic.

He called on the New England Patriots.

The team’s private plane landed in Boston from China on Thursday evening carrying more than a million masks critical to health-care providers fighting to control the spread of the virus. Members of the Massachusetts National Guard met the plane and off-loaded the containers of masks onto waiting trucks for transport to warehouses for distribution.

Baker secured the N95 masks from Chinese manufacturers but had no way of getting them to the US. He reached out to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who loaned the Boeing 767 painted in the team’s colors and logo that is usually used to carry the team to and from National Football League games.

Baker detailed the joint venture in a news conference Thursday, at one point getting emotional as he thanked the Kraft family for their assistance.

“The Krafts were terrific,” the Republican governor said.

“They were a phone call away and immediately went to work on the logistics associated with this and did not stop until they could make it happen. This was a total team effort on every level.”

Kraft Sports and Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Jim Nolan said in an interview on Patriots.com radio that the Chinese government didn’t officially sign off on the trip until March 27. Nolan said the hurdles included legal logistics that were only cleared thanks to cooperation involving multiple state, US and international entities.

Chinese technology company Tencent was a huge help in the process, Nolan said. It agreed to gather the masks, got them through the inspection process, stayed with them to ensure their security and eventually their movement on to the Patriots’ plane.

“This isn’t in their wheelhouse, but they thought it was the right thing to do,” Nolan said.

There was little margin for error once the airplane arrived in China, which granted the Patriots three hours to fill the plane with the masks. They were on the ground for two hours and 57 minutes according to flight tracker data Nolan monitored. AP

By Will Graves

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The Associated Press

HERE’S a large whiteboard calendar on a wall inside the massive gym owned by Simone Biles’s family that outlines every major gymnastics event of the year, the 2020 Olympics included.

When the Tokyo Games were officially postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the reigning Olympic champion’s coaches

ran over to the calendar and erased all of it. Watching Cecile Landi wipe away all of Biles’s carefully laid plans left the 23-year-old star reeling.

While many other high-profile athletes came forward in the aftermath of the postponement, Biles needed some time to collect herself and figure out a way forward.

“It’s a letdown,” Biles told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s hard to keep looking at that like, ‘We have another year.’”

Probably. When asked if she is definitely planning to

push toward Tokyo despite the delay, she stopped short of an unqualified yes.

“Well, nothing is really set in stone yet,” Biles said.

“We’re trying to figure out the right training regiment just so mentally and physically we can try and stay on top of our game. We’re just playing it by ear and really just listening to my body.”

If the most decorated female gymnast of all time is being honest, she was really looking forward to a break come mid-August. She’d been doing a countdown of sorts in her mind since she returned to competition in 2018. Having to hit reset isn’t easy.

“I was just mentally battling my mind and I was so ready and not mentally checked out, but I was ready after three months to be done,” Biles said. “That’s a lot to take mentally.”

For those who point out “it’s just another year,” she has a counterpoint: She’s spent most of her life in the gym since she was in elementary school. The light at the end of the tunnel was growing bigger by the day. Now it’s not.

“A year is a lot for elite athletes,” she said. “It feels more than a year on your body, trust me. Especially gymnastics, the impact we take. It’s your whole entire body, it’s not just your legs or your feet or your arms, we have to make sure your whole body is in check.”

In a way, Biles is leaning on the process that guided her following a 15-month break after the 2016 Olympics. Back then she was careful not to rush into anything, stressing she was just going to see what happened when she went back into the gym in the fall of 2017. She needed to figure out why she was there in the first place. Eventually she did, pushing her sport closer to the mainstream in the process, one boundary-pushing routine at a time. Her performances have become can’t-miss events, her smiling face a fixture at the end of every NBC Olympic promo.

It’s a lot to carry. A lot.

“I feel like there is kind of pressure,” Biles said. “This year I was just doing it for me, no expectations. Now it’s all eyes again on you, wondering, ‘Can she do it, now she’s a year older?’ You’re like, ‘oh shoot.’”

World Champions Centre, the Houston-area gym her family runs, is closed, forcing her to come up with workouts that will keep her body engaged for whenever she’s cleared to return to training. She has no plans to try to slip through the back door when no one is looking.

“I know some people who are like, ‘I’m going to sneak in the gym and take the fine,’ this or that,” Biles said. “It’s your health and your safety, you have to be careful around other people.”

The silver lining in the postponement is that it’s allowing her body to recover from an unrelenting training schedule, though she admits there have been adjustments along the way.

“Some days, [my coaches] will be like: ‘Well she’s not doing that. Let’s condition some more, let’s do some basics,’” Biles said.

The post-Olympic tour she plans to headline is also being pushed back a year, and Biles stressed she remains committed to it if she makes it through Tokyo healthy. The tour is designed to be fun, a release. The Olympics, by comparison, require more dedication and more precise planning.

The postponement left her drained. The next step is making sure she can regain the spark that’s made her one of the most celebrated athletes of the entire Olympic movement.

“It will be mentally challenging pushing for another year because we mentally prepared all of those tactics for this year,” she said. “To take your foot of the gas and reset, it’s hard because I was emptying my gas tank and we need to find ways to fill that back up.”

Olympic delay adds to workload, cost and cash flow uncertainty WHAT VIRUS? BELARUS SAYS G SITUATION ‘UNDER CONTROL’ ENEVA—Postponing the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 will make the event more costly for all parties, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged on Thursday, although it offered few details on what the final bill might be.

Four directors of the Olympic body held a conference call three days after Tokyo’s new dates were finalized, with the games pushed back to July 23 to August 8 next year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the new dates cleared up any uncertainty about the event’s future, there are still plenty of question marks as the IOC begins to work with Tokyo organizers and governing bodies of 33 sports in a huge task to amend thousands of contracts. They include agreements for 41 venues, an Olympic village of 5,000 apartments, hotels, transport, plus the supply of goods and services.

“All of this now has to be re-secured for one year later,” said Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s Olympic Games executive director. “There will be costs for [Tokyo local organizers] and the IOC and Olympic family side.”

The estimations for how much it will cost to postpone the games have started at $2 billion and gone much higher.

Japanese taxpayers are expected to meet most of it, adding to their share of an official budget of $12.6 billion.

The IOC was contributing $1.3 billion to Tokyo’s original operating budget.

Asked if the Switzerland-based Olympic body would meet some of the extra costs from its own insurance policy or billion-dollar reserve fund, the official line Thursday was that it’s too early to say.

It was also unclear how the payments from broadcasters will be structured.

“We’re only just getting into all of this,” said Timo Lumme, the managing director of television and marketing.

Broadcasters including NBC contributed 73 percent of the IOC’s $5.7-billion income from the previous four-year

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THERE are still plenty of question marks and a huge task to amend thousands wrought by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021. AP

cycle up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Of that, $540 million went to the governing bodies of the 28 core Summer Games sports.

That figure is expected to go up for Tokyo, but it’s still unclear when the governing bodies will get IOC payments from their share of those revenues.

The IOC has not committed to paying 25 percent of that money in advance in 2020 to ease the governing bodies’ cash flow. Many face extra costs for Tokyo while also having to cancel revenue-earning world championships and other international events.

“They’ll get to 2021, but in what condition?” said Francesco Ricci Bitti, head of the group of Summer Games sports known as

ASOIF, this week. He told The Associated Press that “15 to 20 are very dependent on Olympics funding.”

One Tokyo Olympics decision could come within two weeks, sports Director Kit McConnell suggested. The IOC will have talks with Fifa about raising the age limit in men’s soccer from 23 to 24 to account for the one-year delay.

Hundreds of potential Olympic athletes who get IOC funding for their training are getting one-year extensions to their scholarships.

The IOC has yet to reschedule its annual meeting that was set for Tokyo in July—or a presidential election that is scheduled for June 2021 in Athens, Greece. That is now just one month before the start of the Tokyo games. AP

Beijing 2022 planners evaluating impact of postponing Games

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PALETTES of N95 respirator masks are off-loaded from the New England Patriots team’s customized Boeing 767 jet on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston on Thursday. AP

EIJING—Organizers of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing say they will conduct a “detailed assessment” of the impact on their plans of the decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics to next year.

In a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency, Beijing 2022 organizers said they were in close communication with the International Olympic Committee to ensure the “special situation” is handled properly.

The IOC and local organizers agreed last week to push the Tokyo Games back a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The revised dates for Tokyo are July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Beijing Games are scheduled to open on

February 4, 2022.

Although the Summer and Winter Olympics will now be held within six months of each other, Beijing organizers say their preparations are on target and they have no plans to delay events.

“We believe the Summer Games in Tokyo and the Winter Games in Beijing will both be a success,” the statement said.

Beijing was awarded the games in 2015, beating Almaty, Kazakhstan in the voting, to become the first city to have been awarded both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

Beijing’s urban center will host indoor events such as hockey and figure skating, largely in venues used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. AP

INSK, Belarus—When Belarus’s president last made a public appearance he wore protective gear, but it wasn’t for the coronavirus. Alexander Lukashenko, who derides global concerns over Covid-19 as “mass psychosis,” donned a helmet and knee guards to play ice hockey—at a venue packed with spectators.

“There are no viruses here. Did you see any flying around? I don’t see them either,” Lukashenko, an avid player of the sport, told a TV reporter while on the ice at the weekend event. “It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees.”

While Belarus’s neighbors impose increasing restrictions on public life to halt the virus’s spread, and its main ally and sponsor, Russia, has closed the border, the former Soviet republic is facing the global crisis with a blend of bravado and casual disregard. Factories, stores and restaurants conduct business as usual, stands at sports events fill with spectators and masks are a rare sight on the streets of the capital, Minsk.

Belarus is the only country in Europe still playing professional soccer games with fans in the stands.

The health ministry rejects the idea of restrictions and quarantine; it considers wide-spread testing, treating severe cases of the virus and monitoring those who came in contact with infected people much more effective.

With some 36,000—out of 9.5 million population— tested, 1,500 people closely monitored and more ventilators per 100,000 people than the US and Italy, the situation is “under control,” Belarus health officials say.

Lukashenko, a 65-year-old former state farm director, has run the country as a near-dictatorship for a quartercentury, cultivating a tough-guy image and tolerating no dissent. The national coronavirus strategy reflects that.

“Lukashenko treats the coronavirus as a subordinate,” said Tatyana Bykovich, a 46-year-old economist who was one of the few people walking around Minsk in a mask.

But the virus isn’t submissive. In recent days, the comparatively low number of officially reported infections has been steadily rising and the first four deaths have been reported. Some Belarusians believe that government statistics underplay the spread to keep the nation’s Soviet-style economy running.

“Under the conditions of total [state] control of the mass media and statistics, Belarus has every chance of being the most successful country in the world in the fight against coronavirus,” said analyst Viktor Martinovich.

Nevertheless, many citizens appear to be taking the epidemic much more seriously than their government is. AP