Duterte assures local officials gov't has enough funds to address nCoV impact
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte Monday assured the local executives that the government has enough funds to address the impact of the novel coronavirus and urged them to keep their faith in the government as it works to contain the disease.
"If it goes out of hand, do not worry. (Finance Secretary Carlos) Dominguez has the money," the president said during a gathering of local executives in Pasay.
"I can assure you and we can defeat this virus," he added.
Duterte called on local governments to listen to Health Secretary Franciso Duque, who he said has a lot of experience handling diseases. He advised them to follow the protocols set by the national government, saying "trouble" would start if they are not complied with.
"Just believe in the government. In a crisis involving deaths and getting people safe, we will do our very best," the Philippine leader said.
"The national government remains to be on top of the threat of the coronavirus. We are prepared to handle this public health emergency in case the worst scenario happens," he added.
The president also chided what he described as "idiots" who are using the nCoV to sow fear.
"There are some kibitzers in politics, idiots if you may... they’re asking, what is the government of the Philippines doing? We do not see any infrastructure there to meet this... All, pessimistic. They just want to sow fear," he said.
"If only one person died and you hardly cannot connect it with the coronavirus, then that is really, you sound an alarm there and it’s a stupid thing."
Duterte also expressed readiness to repatriate Filipinos in areas affected by the virus.
"If the number of deaths increase and Filipinos are being driven away, whether you like it or not, I will bring them home. I will bring them home because they have no other country to seek shelter. It’s their country. Where else will they run to?" he said.
"We will go and we will marshal all available carriers there by ship or by air. We will get then. And of course, there will always be precautions. The caveat there is do not break the rules."
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
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Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
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The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
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In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
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Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
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The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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