Coronavirus in the Philippines

- Daisy

The first case of coronavirus in the Philippines was reported on January 30, 2020 with a 38-year-old female national. The Filipinos then called for a ban of ships and flights coming from China, but this was disregarded by the president, Rodrigo Duterte, stating that if they do so, China will be offended. Currently, the Philippines ranks first among Southeast Asian nations with a total case of 5,223 as of time of writing, with higher number of deaths than the total of those recovered.

Since my family live in the province where there is zero case so far, their daily life has been pretty much normal with no lockdown, although there is a curfew and a liquor ban to avoid crowd gathering at night. What I worry the most is the fact that Philippines already has a high number of cases as compared to ASEAN countries, even without mass testing. I am well aware that this is just the beginning and it is just starting to get worse, and I truly fear its effect on the poor people who earn nothing with the lockdown in the capital cities, left with almost nothing to eat, and could not afford to be hospitalized. There is also a shortage of masks and PPEs (Peronal Protective Equipment) for the frontliners. And the President is prioritizing arrest of those who violate the quarantine rules, instead of pushing the mass testing.

One thing positive about all these though is that it seems like Earth is healing. With people staying at their houses, there is visibly less pollution. The extremely polluted Manila Bay now has a clear turquoise blue water. With less air pollution, the mountains are now visible in the city. Personally, this lockdown has made me try new dishes that I have never cooked before and I also got to watch the netflix series that I have always wanted to finish.

Countless memes are all over social media these days, but this one made me laugh since I can relate to it. I usually sleep in the morning and wake up late in the afternoon so I normally look like this in my online classes.

Also, with the quarantine, I have learned some Spanish phrases like #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #cuarentena. For you, these are helpful vocabulary related to the current situation we are facing. quarantine - this basically means staying at home especially if you're a PUI (Person Under Investigation) which means you may have come in contact with a positive person. lockdown - the purpose of this is to stop people from moving to places, so restaurants, cinemas, clubs, and the likes are closed. asymptomatic - this refers to people who are positive with the virus but don't show any symptoms like headache or fever.