The Philippines ranked eighth among countries with the most COVID-19 cases in the past 28 days, according to the global tracker of the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine based in Maryland.

Low annual budgets as well as turf issues among hundreds of government agencies are seriously hampering the development of the information and communications technology infrastructure in the public sector, badly needed in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said yesterday.

The Department of Health said yesterday that there is still no recommendation from the All Expert Group to administer COVID-19 vaccines among minors aged 12 to 17 years old.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine under the Department of Health is investigating the Philippine Red Cross chapter in Subic for its alleged 89 percent error, with patients tested for COVID-19 yielding “false positive results.”

The COVID-19 alert level system will not yet be implemented nationwide next month, a Malacañang official said yesterday.