Dr. Teodoro J. Herbosa, advisor of the National Task Force for COVID-19, called on the private sector to help through campaigns such as Resbakuna sa Botika, in which vaccines are administered in pharmacies.  

He added that the DoH is developing a mechanism of self-reporting of tests, given that many Filipinos have been resorting to antigen testing at home. However, this will take some time as there is “lots of complexity in the self-reporting system,” mainly the question of test quality and accuracy.

Initiated in 2019, Tsek.ph is a project of the UP System, under the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs through the UP-CMC Journalism Department serving as a collaborative fact-checking network, which at the time united three academic institutions and 11 media partners as a public service commitment to counter disinformation.

The Philippine Genome Center Visayas has already received its set of Next Generation Sequencers to capacitate the center for whole genome sequencing to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants in the region. PGC Visayas acquired the sequencers through the funding support of the Department of Budget and Management. Installation of the sequencers commenced last Thursday (Jan. 20) at the PGC Visayas Laboratories at the Regional Research Center of UPV in Miagao, Iloilo

“In terms of projections, we hope na baka third week [of February] o sa March, bumaba ito (number of new COVID-19 cases). Hinihintay lang kasi natin ‘yong provinces,” said Jomar Rabajante of the University of the Philippines (UP) Pandemic Response Team.

(In terms of projections, we hope that by the third week of February or March, the number of new cases has decreased. We’re still waiting for the provinces.)

Rabajante said that currently, the bulk of new COVID-19 cases come from the provinces since the National Capital Region (NCR) is already in a “declining phase.”

On Monday, the University of the Philippines (UP) revived Tsek.ph, an alliance of 23 academic, media and civil society organizations committed to identifying and flagging disinformation on social media.

First set up in 2019 during the midterm elections, the alliance was revived “to make it in time for the 2022 elections,” said project co-coordinator Rachel Khan, associate dean of the UP College of Mass Communication.

The Office of Counseling and Guidance (OCG) of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) is implementing “UPLB BARKada at CATropa” to support the psychosocial needs of UPLB constituents as well as provide them an alternative venue to de-stress.

“UPLB BARKada at CATropa” promotes social interaction between animals and humans to help alleviate the negative effects of isolation and depression.