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(Story on A4)
AFGHAN PRESIDENT FLEES AS TALIBAN TAKE OVER KABUL (Story below)
VOL. XXXV • NO. 181 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
‘Vax-resistant’ Lambda in PH
DOH confirms 35-year-old Filipino 1st case of ’more transmissible variant of interest’ By Macon Ramos Araneta and Rio N. Araja
HE Department of Health on Sunday confirmed the country's first case of the COVID-19 Lambda variant, a “variant of interest” which is supposed to be more transmissible and vaccine-resistant than other strains.
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The DOH said the case was a 35-yearold female but said it has not determined if she is a returning overseas Filipino. She was asymptomatic and has already recovered after undergoing the 10-day isolation period, the department said.
Meanwhile, the DOH reported 14,749 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the second highest number since the pandemic started last year. The highest incidence was registered on April 2, at Next page 15,310 cases.
PANDEMIC POST. The sign on the tarpaulin is clear enough to send two patients away from the FEU Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation in Quezon City on Sunday, August 15, 2021. At the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (inset), a medical front line worker assists a patient admitted to the state-run hospital. NKTI, despite being at full capacity, says it will not turn away patients infected with COVID-19. Danny Pata
IATF eyes ban on unvaxed people going out By Othel V. Campos
Nurses resign en masse, says group, over unpaid benefits
THE government is considering allowing only vaccinated people to leave their homes to run errands during a lockdown, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said over the weekend. Lopez, a member of the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), said this was a possibility as the country tends to fall back into strict lockdowns. “We need to prepare for this kind of protocol since this is what has been trending in other countries, and we’re no
different from them. This policy is already being observed in countries with high vaccination rates. We need to enforce this during lockdown periods only,” he said. Lopez said the government needs to adopt this as a policy to allow more physical movement and more economic movement especially since other sectors continue to be open, like restaurants and stores, to sustain livelihoods and the economy. He also urged unvaccinated people to have themselves vaccinated, as protection for them and their unvaccinated family Next page members.
benefits, including hazard pay for working with COVID-19 patients, the president SOME 40 percent of private hospital of the Philippine Nurses Association said nurses have already resigned from Sunday. “We can't blame them if they do that their jobs as discontent grows over the Next page non-payment of promised government
102,748
30,340
270
(As of 4 PM, AUGUST 15)
House, Senate seek COA brief on Health mess
Haiti rescue: Race against time PORT-AU-PRINCE—At least 724 An additional 2,800 people were people were killed in the powerful injured in the 7.2-magnitude tremor earthquake that rocked Haiti, that struck early Saturday, the authorities said Sunday, updating the country's civil protection agency said. toll on the disaster-hit nation. Next page
against the clock to find survivors, after a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti early Saturday, killing at least 304, and trapping hundreds of victims under rubble and left at least 1,800 people injured in the Caribbean nation still recovering from a devastating 2010 quake. AFP
14,749
1,608,528 10,720
By Macon Ramos-Araneta
QUAKE MESS. Rescuers raced
1,741,616
By Rio N. Araja CONGRESS is set to receive a briefing from the Commission on Audit (COA) into the “deficiencies” in the management of P67.32 billion in COVID-19 response funds entrusted to the Department of Health (DOH) in 2020. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco requested the COA briefing for members of the
Taliban fighters sit over a vehicle on a street in Kabul on August 15. Inset shows Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who left the country on Sunday for Tajikistan, as the insurgents completed their rout of government forces. AFP
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Afghan president flees Kabul as Taliban reach capital KABUL—President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan on Sunday, a top official said, effectively ceding power to the Taliban as they reached the capital Kabul to seal a nationwide military victory in just 10 days. "The former Afghan President has left the nation, leaving the people to this situation," Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the peace process, said in a video on his Facebook page.
"God hold him accountable, and the people will have their judgement." He gave no indication where Ghani was going, but leading Afghan media group Tolo news suggested he was heading to Tajikistan (see related story on B2 -- Editors). Ghani's departure from office was one of the key demands of the Taliban in months of peace talks with the government, but he had stubbornly clung
to power. In just over a week, the Taliban have carried out a lightning sweep of the country, with troops incapable of holding onto territory without US military support. The insurgents said they want a "peaceful transfer" within the next few days, two decades after US-led forces toppled it in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Next page