RedApe

How is it discrimination? Everyone has an opportunity to take advantage of this benefit once they reach a certain age...of course it's possible that your advocacy may have an effect...perhaps they'll pull all such "Senior privileges" the day before you turn 60.

bestvue

if you are really really lucky you too may become a senior citizen some day.

Raffin

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/15/...-hopkins-tally

Philippines most cases and second highest COVID-19 deaths in SE Asia, according to John Hopkins.

Somewhat concerning that only a few days ago the Health Secretary was painting a much rosier picture.

Raffin

https://www.rappler.com/nation/25807...ing-april-2020

A concerning report on how the Philippines compares internationally and in SE Asia on COVID-19.
Never heard of the deep Knowledge group but if Rappler is showing its report that to me gives it some weight.

Bealinehx

Possibly a more understandable statistic is total number of cases per one million population.
The latest statistics published this morning are;
USA 1946
Spain 3864
Italy. 2732
Frrance 2265
Germany 1608
UK. 1451
Belgium. 2897
Netherlands 1643
Switzerland 3043
PRC. 57
India. 9
S Korea. 207
Japan. 68
Philippines. 50
Indonesia. 19
Malaysia. 157
Singapore. 632
Thailand. 38
Vietnam 3

Stokkevn

Quite a good site for numbers etc

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Raffin

The Philippines doesn't look too bad until you see how little testing has been done. There is a promise to more than double the daily rate of targeted tests over the next two weeks. The case figures are then likely to greatly worsen. Add to that the effect on transmission of fairly soon having to start loosening one of the tightest lockdowns in the world on Luzon when the government can no longer bear the public pressure to return to work and the cost of support. Plus the poor public health system. There's a long way to go here before the curve flattens.

Stokkevn

I would not want to live in BAR in Mindanao, population around 4 million and they have 3 ventilators.

Raffin

Very few at Palawan this morning. A week ago long lines. That was just after Easter over which they were closed for a time, but even so I wonder if people have now begun to run out of money to send.

Bealinehx

Not at all surprising that the lockdown is extended to 15 May. Liquor ban still in place so that must be good for general health

Raffin

Yes, no surprise as they don't have much idea about the scale of the outbreak due to insufficient testing. For one thing so many staff have been off sick at the country's main testing centre!

To my mind the liquor ban is now unnecessary. People have no money for food, let alone drink. And anyway many are probably working hard on home brew.

Disappointing to see no announcements on any, even small, measures to make the lockdown easier for people to bear. A missed opportunity as I can't see another 3 weeks making the picture here much clearer, due to a continued lack of testing..Continued restrictions and financial strains up to mid May leading to pressure for a major, and risky lifting.. Better they had started now with small steps on some sort of phased program to lift restrictions over a longer time period.

Raffin

Finding an open bank branch is becoming more difficult as the lockdown grinds on. Non functioning ATMs, and unhelpful notices which do not tell you where the nearest open branch is. Some branches only open one day a week. A branch of a major bank here which was open two weeks ago is now closed. The notice outside said it was closed to protect the health of the public. Yet I remember an organised line outside, socially distanced seating inside and the cashier behind polythene sheeting. So I think they just want to cut costs. It's in a populated area even though transactions are obviously less and it's a long way to the nearest branches, which may or may not be open.

Stokkevn

If you are with BPI they update early each day as to which branches are open ( https://www.bpi.com.ph/announcements/open-branches ). We managed to get into Roxas City on Monday did a bit of shopping and then I joined the 50m queue at the bank, after half an hour in the sun had advanced 2m so gave up and went back early next morning, My wife suggested that I should just get what I can out of the ATM, I said OK but that would not be enough for the shopping and her pocket money, she made me queue for 1.5hrs.

jaygee68

You should change,Stokkevn................................... ....................................NOT the bank.

Raffin

At the end of a drive around parts of Paranaque and Pasay yesterday during which we saw another three closed PNB branches, we did find a functioning one. Which a couple of weeks ago was shut so we didn't think to go directly to it. Inside just one teller behind the thick polythene. Annoying thing was there was no notice and the guard outside had no idea of its future operating days.