KAKAMMPI News

Around 66,000 repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were stranded in Metro Manila due to restrictions implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic are already in their home provinces. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in a forum on Monday that 34,000 of them were seafarers, while 32,000 were land-based workers. “Ang huling tala natin ay mga 66,000 na ang nakauwi sa kani-kanilang home local government units (LGUs) since May 15,” Cacdac said. “Majority of those nakinabang sa libreng transport — charter planes, buses, voyages — ay seafarers,” Cacdac added. Bangsamoro Inter-Agency Task Force earlier said locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning OFWs, who were assisted by Hatid Probinsya Program, were  among the latest COVID-19 cases  in the region. Because of this and similar reports, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the government will  suspend for two weeks  the trips of LSIs to Regions...

Published  June 29, 2020 3:43pm By JOVILAND RITA, GMA News Most of the 8,000 stranded aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were withheld from going abroad due to the COVID-19 situation, have been refusing to go back to their provinces. At a forum on Monday, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said these aspiring OFWs were already abandoned by their manning agencies. “Meron tayong humigit kumulang  ng 8,000 na binibigyan ng pagkain, pinapakain araw. Ito ‘yung mga hindi nakaalis at hindi na nila nadidinig ang kanilang manning agencies,” he said. “Either hindi nakasampa ng barko, meron nang POEA contract, tapos meron pang mga trainees na inabanduna na ng kanilang manning agency,” he added. According to Cacdac, OWWA already spent around P80 million to provide food for the stranded OFWs since March 15. “Karamihan sa kanila, ayaw na umuwi ng probinsiya, ng Mindanao o ng Visayas kasi inaabangan din nila ...

Agence France-Presse Posted at  Jun 30 2020 01:36 PM Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong announces his plans to run for legislature, in Hong Kong, China June 19, 2020.  Tyrone Siu, Reuters HONG KONG - Four young leaders of a Hong Kong pro-democracy political party announced their resignations on Monday, hours after Beijing passed a sweeping national security law for the city. Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Jeffrey Ngo and Agnes Chow said they were ending their involvement in Demosisto, a party that has infuriated Beijing by campaigning for universal suffrage and for foreign countries to sanction China for rights abuses. All four said they would continue to campaign in a personal capacity, a move that suggests they might be hoping to shield Demosisto from being prosecuted or disqualified once the new security law comes in. "I will continue to defend my home -- Hong Kong -- until they mute me and eliminate me from this land," Wong wrote on Facebook. Both Wong a...

Reuters Posted at  Jun 30 2020 11:50 AM BEIJING - China's military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday. The Ad5-nCoV is one of China's eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The shot also won approval for human testing in Canada. China's Central Military Commission approved the use of the vaccine by the military on June 25 for a period of one year, CanSino said in a filing. The vaccine candidate was developed jointly by CanSino and a research institute at the Academy of Military Science (AMS). "The Ad5-nCoV is currently limited to military use only and its use cannot be expanded to a broader vaccination range without the approval of the Logistics Support Department," CanSino said, refer...

Reuters Posted at  Jun 30 2020 07:06 AM DUBAI - Abu Dhabi will allow people to enter the emirate if they have tested negative for COVID-19 in the previous 48 hours, the local government media office said on Monday. Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest member of the United Arab Emirates federation, has had a ban on people entering since June 2. It eased some restrictions a week ago to allow movement between its cities for residents. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates will partially reopen mosques across the country starting July 1, with a reduced capacity of 30%, the spokesperson of the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said on Monday. Saif Al Dhaheri said that mosques will remain closed for Friday prayers, but some will be open at other times while those located in industrial areas, shopping malls and public parks will stay closed for now.  (Writing by Lisa Barrington; Additional reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Catherine...

The Philippines’ tally of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases topped 36,000 on Monday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 985 more infections—643 “fresh” or newly validated and 342 reported late—bringing the total to 36,438. Total recoveries also rose to 9,956 after 270 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease, while the death toll climbed to 1,255 with 11 new fatalities. Among the fresh cases, 223 are from Metro Manila, 106 are from Region VII, while the remaining 314 are spread out across the country. Among the late cases, 96 are from Metro Manila, 29 are from Region VII, while the 217 other patients came from various areas nationwide. There are also 24,525 active cases undergoing treatment or quarantine, 23,451 or 95.6 percent of which are mild, 922 are asymptomatic, while 126 are severe and 26 are in critical condition. The DOH also said it removed two duplicate cases from the total tally of infections. As of June 28, the Philippines has 53...

Agence France-Presse  Posted at  Jun 30 2020 06:38 AM WASHINGTON — Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the US science journal PNAS. Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. It possesses "all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2011 to 2018, researchers took 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces and in a veterinary hospital, allowing them to isolate 179 swine flu viruses.  The majority were of a new kind which has been dominant among pigs since 2016.  Disease that killed millions of China's pigs poses global threat The researchers then carried out various experiments including on ferrets, which are widely used in...