As of the weekend, two more states in the US had reported cases of AY.4.2, after it was first recorded just two days earlier in two other states plus the District of Columbia.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has appealed to local government units to ramp up the vaccination of those in the priority groups A2 (senior citizens) and A3 (persons with comorbidities) against COVID-19 to reduce hospital utilization in the country.

The Department of Health sees a higher possibility of having Metro Manila deescalated to Alert Level 2 as new COVID-19 cases in the region continue to decline.

All pandemics end eventually. The Economist observed in a recent newsletter that “COVID-19 has started down that path and will gradually become endemic.

"It's a waste [that] we have many vaccines now but it's too centralized. I hope they liberalize [for example] companies so that they can open up to their employees."