New infections in Tokyo up by over 10% from previous week as delta variant spreads
The number of new infections with the coronavirus in Tokyo has increased by more than 10% from the previous week, it was reported at Thursday’s meeting on monitoring the infection situation in the capital.
The moving average of new infections over the past seven days was 439.6, up 13.8% from 386.4 in the previous seven-day period, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government.
Cases of the delta variant, first identified in India and considered highly infectious, have been spreading. Of the tests conducted during the period from June 14 to 20, 8.2% of those tested were found to have been infected with the delta variant, more than double the level of the previous week of 3.2%.
It was also reported at the meeting that there have been increasing numbers of people going out at night in entertainment districts after the state of emergency ended in Tokyo and was replaced with emergency-level priority measures.
In light of this, experts called for vigilance against a rapid rebound in infections.
China issues white paper on its political party system
BEIJING – Chinas State Council Information Office on Friday issued a white paper titled “Chinas Political Party System: Cooperation and Consultation,” elaborating on the distinctive characteristics and strengths of the countrys political party system.
The system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is a basic element of China’s political framework, according to the white paper.
In this system, in addition to the CPC, there are eight other political parties: the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, the China Democratic League, the China National Democratic Construction Association, the China Association for Promoting Democracy, the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, the China Zhi Gong Party, the Jiusan Society, and the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League. The system also includes prominent individuals without affiliation to any of the political parties.
Following the principles of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, sincerity, and sharing the rough times and the smooth, the CPC and the other political parties have created a multiparty cooperation system in which the CPC exercises state power and the other parties participate fully in the administration of state affairs under the leadership of the CPC, according to the white paper.
Calling the system a new model grown out of the soil of China, the paper said it learns from other countries and absorbs the fruits of their political achievements.
The CPC has worked together with the non-CPC political parties over the years, advancing side by side, withstanding all kinds of tests, and forming a new type of relationship featuring cooperation, unity and harmony, according to the document.
The CPC upholds equality, democratic consultation, and sincere cooperation to support other participants in jointly building state power at all levels of people’s congresses, governments and judicial organs.
China’s political party system is a structure of enormous strength, creativity and vitality. It embodies the essence of Chinese traditions, reflects the intrinsic requirements of socialism, and conforms to China’s realities and its needs in state governance.
As a basic component of China’s political system, it contributes to China’s development, national rejuvenation, and social progress, and is of great benefit to the people’s wellbeing, according to the paper.
Over the past seven decades and more, China’s political party system has grown and matured, providing Chinese ideas to the world in terms of modern party politics, and offering a new model for global political progress, according to the document.
Vietnam demands relevant parties not complicate South China Sea situation
HÀ NỘI — Spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry Lê Thị Thu Hằng on Thursday emphasised Việt Nam’s demand for relevant parties to not take any action that further complicates the situation in the South China Sea (East Sea), but contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability in the waters.
At the ministry’s virtual regular press conference, she made the remarks in response to reporters’ question about the Chinese reconnaissance vessels and aircraft recently spotted in the vicinity of Chữ Thập (Fiery Cross) Reef in Việt Nam’s Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelago.
The spokeswoman once again stated that Việt Nam has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to testify to its sovereignty over Trường Sa archipelago in line with international law.
Any activity violating Việt Nam’s sovereignty over and related rights in this archipelago is illegal and void, Hằng said.
In the current regional and international context, Việt Nam demands the parties concerned to not take any action further complicating the situation in the East Sea but make practical and active contributions to the maintenance of peace and stability in the waters while creating a favourable environment for the negotiation on a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), she emphasised.
With regard to China’s recent launch of a project tagging floral species in Việt Nam’s Hoàng Sa (Paracel) archipelago, the spokeswoman said Việt Nam has repeatedly affirmed that it has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to testify to its sovereignty over Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa archipelagos in accordance with international law.
Any action under any form that infringes Việt Nam’s sovereignty over Hoàng Sa and Trường islands as well as the country’s sovereign right and jurisdiction over its sea areas is null and void and unrecognised, and Việt Nam resolutely objects to such action, she added. — VNS
S. Korea to give all-out support for phase 3 trials of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine candidates
South Korea said Friday it will strengthen support for homegrown COVID-19 vaccine development so that candidates can enter late-stage phase three clinical trials by the end of the year in a move to bolster its vaccine arsenal against the pandemic.
The country will also step up efforts to develop messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology to catch up to global pharmaceutical giants.
The government has so far secured vaccines from multiple global pharmaceutical companies to inoculate nearly double its 51.3 million population, but the government has doubled down on its homegrown vaccine development program to prepare for a drawn-out fight against the pandemic.
South Korea has inoculated around 15 million people, or 30 percent of the country’s population, with a single COVID-19 vaccine shot since the vaccine rollout in late February. Of them, 4.4 million, or 8.6 percent of the population, were fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
There are currently five local companies developing multiple types of COVID-19 vaccines.
SK Bioscience Co.’s synthetic antigen-based vaccine is currently in phase I/II clinical trial, a combination of phases I and II, while EuBiologics Co.’s synthetic antigen-based vaccine has also entered a phase I/II trial.
Genexine Inc.’s DNA-based vaccine is in phase I/IIa trial, and Geneone Life Science is in a phase I trial for its DNA-based vaccine.
Cellid’s viral vector vaccine is currently in phase I/IIa trial.
South Korea has earmarked 68.7 billion won for support in running vaccine clinical trials this year, larger than the budget of 49 billion won last year, and the government plans to increase the budget if needed.
The government is also focusing on mRNA vaccine development, which is currently in early stages in South Korea.
Global pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna have used the technology in their COVID-19 vaccines, which have shown to be highly effective in fighting the virus.
Local pharmaceutical companies currently have a three-year gap in mRNA technology compared with overseas rivals, according to a government survey on local firms. Around 10 local companies are planning clinical trials for mRNA vaccines. (Yonhap)
India may resume sending Covid-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka in July-August
NEW DELHI, June 23: Depending on the scale of production of Covid-19 vaccines, within the country, India is aiming at July-end or August to at least release those vaccines that have been bought by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and are now in pending status, it is learnt.
The supplies to Bhutan, which received vaccines from India as grants, will be prioritised, too.
India, the largest vaccine producer in the world, started sending Covid shots abroad, both as grants as well as commercial shipments, from 20 January onwards under an initiative labelled ‘Vaccine Maitri’ (Vaccine Friendship). However, as India started facing a vaccine shortage, domestically, this came to a halt in April. India had shipped over 66 million doses abroad by then.
With the Indian initiative suspended, China as well as Russia have stepped in to offer their Covid shots to countries in South Asia.
After initial hiccups in the domestic Covid vaccination drive, caused by shortages, India has launched a policy under which the central government will be the sole public sector vaccine buyer in the country. On the first day of its rollout Monday, over eight million people were vaccinated against Covid-19.
The boost in numbers has encouraged the Union government to begin planning for the release of the pending Covid vaccines in the neighbourhood.
According to informed sources, the Narendra Modi Government believes that if India can maintain the record number of Covid-19 vaccinations, it will reach a position by August when shipments to other countries can be resumed.
“If the number of vaccinations that we saw on Monday continues, then the government expects that 40 per cent of the population can be covered by August and we will have a situation when herd immunity will kick in,” said a source.
“There are high chances that is when we can safely resume the shipments. It won’t be like before so soon but, of course, for the neighbourhood, we are responsible,” the source added.
However, the sources also said that, if and when the exports are resumed, it will only be for the neighbourhood since they are of “topmost priority”, and because some of them have also made payments to procure vaccines from India.
While other countries will get support from the US and other nations, it is the immediate neighbourhood that needs India’s attention. The vaccine distribution announced by the US will address concerns of the Caribbean and African countries. India believes it is time Europe stops “cornering” the vaccines and begins distribution in a significant way, said a senior government official.
According to another official, “no exports will take place unless the domestic vaccinations are really high”.
“It has to be a quick political call. Of course, the idea is to release the paid ones first. But priority now is domestic over exports. A lot depends on how much production we can ramp up,” the official added.
External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had said in an interview to Bloomberg Tuesday that he sees India “playing a global role in vaccine supply… as the production picks up again”.
When India started its vaccine programme, he said, “we were living up to our obligations with the Covax (WHO-backed initiative for equitable access to vaccines). We were supplying to some of our neighbours”.
Talking about the halt in Vaccine Maitri in April, he added: “Now, when the second wave hit us, obviously we looked to purpose the deployment of vaccines primarily at home.”
‘Mission accomplished, Noy’: PH grieves for ‘man of honor’
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III died in his sleep at 6.30 a.m. on Thursday, almost five years after reclaiming his privacy at the end of his term in 2016.
His four sisters, heartbroken, confirmed his passing past 3 p.m. at The Chapels of Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City, where his remains had been taken for cremation. “No words can express how broken our hearts are and how long it will take for us to accept the reality that he is gone,” they said in a statement read by Pinky Aquino Abellada.
Expressions of grief and admiration came as swiftly as news of Aquino’s death swept the country.
Vice President Leni Robredo, who now leads the opposition Liberal Party that has been closely linked to the Aquino family name, said she was “deeply heartbroken” and remembered him as “a man of integrity and honor.”
Robredo said Aquino’s greatest legacy was “helping dismantle long-entrenched systems of corruption and standing up for the country on the international stage.”
In Malacañang, President Duterte said it was with “profound” sadness that he learned of Aquino’s passing.
“I hope my fellow Filipinos will be inspired by his legacy,” Duterte said.
He said he was offering the bereaved family “heartfelt condolences” as well as “the government’s assistance during this period of mourning” and, above all, “the love and prayers of a grateful nation.”
Only son
The death at 61 of the only son of the assassinated former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino was first announced by media outlets quoting sources who initially asked not to be named, apparently in deference to the private and close-knit Aquino family.
After leaving Malacañang in 2016, the unmarried Aquino settled in the sprawling residence of his parents on Times Street in Quezon City and rarely made public appearances.
During his watch Aquino made tough decisions in behalf of Filipinos whom he acknowledged as his “bosses”—from successfully challenging China over the disputed West Philippine Sea in the international arbitral tribunal at The Hague, to putting in detention former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and three sitting senators on charges of corruption and plunder, respectively.
Meticulous, data-driven
But his administration was also marked with controversies, including the handling of the 2015 Mamasapano clash, a bungled police operation targeting a Malaysian terrorist who was killed along with 44 Special Action Force men.
Aquino’s former spokesperson Edwin Lacierda described him as a “meticulous,” “data-driven’’ president who had a “very good’’ memory for details because he always read the reports sent to him.
“He always had a calculator beside him,’’ Lacierda told the Inquirer in a phone interview. He said the Cabinet secretaries knew they needed to be prepared to defend their reports when they presented these to Aquino.
“The correct identification of a problem leads to the correct identification of the solution,’’ Lacierda said Aquino would tell his Cabinet.
He would “study the issues and ask questions, so the proponent should really be prepared,’’ Lacierda said, adding that Aquino made decisions based on data and hard facts.
Lacierda said the then President had daily meetings with specific Cabinet secretaries so they could focus on their issues. He held full Cabinet meetings during discussions on the national budget and with the economic team.
At one full Cabinet meeting, then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and then Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV were invited. The two tangled over the latter’s assignment from Aquino to engage in back-channel talks with Chinese officials on the standoff at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.
War on drugs, etc.
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Countering the term “noynoying,” which was then coined to portray Aquino as a do-nothing, Lacierda said the good economic numbers, such as the two quarters in six years when the Philippines exceeded China’s gross domestic product, showed the then President’s hard work.
As a boss, Aquino “had your back,” Lacierda said. “His loyalty to his people engendered loyalty.”
In August 2017, Aquino angered his successor Duterte when he told reporters that the latter’s war on drugs hardly achieved anything, with the number of drug users in 2015 and 2016 remaining at 1.8 million.
During the 33rd anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, Aquino said that “the battle … fought at Edsa is not yet over” and that the country was returning to the Marcos era.
In November 2019, Aquino said he found it confusing that Duterte appointed Vice President Robredo as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs after publicly expressing distrust of her.
Sociologist and Inquirer columnist Randy David said Aquino’s “untimely death prods us to revisit the six years he was president, a period that now seems passé and remote when viewed in the harsh light of the Duterte presidency. Their leadership styles are a study in contrast.’’
“Our people love theatrical performances. On this score, Duterte’s communicative rawness instantly became a signifier of authenticity, while Aquino’s otherwise eloquent speeches only conveyed distance and detachment. The former president never cursed or used vulgar words in public, not even for effect. He was restrained, to the point of being devoid of emotion, even when he was angry or impatient. Digong loves to spew expletives to shock or intimidate. He is always seething, ready to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse, even when he looks sleepy. To his admirers, he is the real thing,” David added.
“In a society with limited memory, it is the little things that are remembered. Like the ban on ‘wangwang’ which, for a long time, had signified the privileges of the rich and powerful in our country. Yet, only a few will probably remember that it was PNoy who made that highly praised move in the early months of his presidency,” he said.
An economics graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, Aquino first entered politics as representative of Tarlac’s second district in 1998. He held the post for two more consecutive terms until 2007.
He placed sixth in the senatorial elections in May 2007 and later chaired the Senate committee on local government.
Even with three more years to go as senator, Aquino sought and won the presidency in 2010, with the death of his mother in 2009 sparking calls for him to lead the country.
Renal disease
According to Aquino’s sisters Ballsy Cruz, Pinky Abellada, Viel Dee and Kris Aquino, he had been in and out of the hospital even before the pandemic.
The death certificate indicated that Aquino died due to renal disease secondary to diabetes. He was said to have been undergoing dialysis thrice a week preparatory to a kidney transplant.
“Mission accomplished, Noy. Be happy now with Dad and Mom. We love you and we are so blessed to have had the privilege to have you as our brother. We’ll miss you forever,” the sisters said.
The sisters said they were hurt that Aquino had silently endured tirades against him after stepping down as President. They said they had urged him to speak up and defend himself, but that he had simply answered them: “I can still sleep at night.”
They proudly said their brother “faced all the investigations and accusations thrown at him”: at the Sandiganbayan in November 2017 for the botched Mamasapano operation, and at the Senate in December 2018 and the House of Representatives in February 2018 for the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy.
“Because when you enter public service, when you serve with honesty and dignity, and you know you have committed no crimes against the people, you will not be afraid to say the truth,” they said.
Viewing
They also thanked the doctors and other medical personnel who tended to Aquino, his friends and supporters, their neighbors on Times Street, his household staff and all those who voted for him.
The sisters announced a daylong viewing of Aquino’s urn at Ateneo’s Church of the Gesu today from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
They urged mourners to observe all health protocols.
On Saturday, Aquino’s urn will be buried beside the grave of his parents at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City. —With reports from Krixia Subingsubing, Leila B. Salaverria AND TINA G. SANTOS INQ
Published : June 25, 2021
By : Christine O. Avendaño & Dexter Cabalza/Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
Former Philippines president Benigno Aquino III passes away
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III has passed away, former Malacañang officials said Thursday morning. He was 61.
Aquino died at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City, said a source who served as a senior Cabinet official during the administration of former president Corazon Aquino.
Aquino was in office from 2010 to 2016 as the Philippines’ 15th president.
The Aquino family has yet to release an official statement on his death.
But his younger cousin, former Senator Bam Aquino, paid tribute to the former president, saying he was heartbroken over the older Aquino’s demise.
“Nadurog ang puso ko sa paglisan ni PNoy sa atin. Sa mga susunod na oras, maraming sasabihin tungkol sa kanya – iba totoo, iba hindi. Pero ito ang masasabi ko – lahat ibinigay niya para sa Pilipino. Wala siyang itinira,” said the former senator, the first relative to speak up on Aquino’s death.
(My heart was broken when PNoy left us. In the next couple of hours, many things will be said about him – some true, some not. But this is all I can say – he gave everything he can for the Filipino people. He did not leave anything for himself.)
He was the only son of former president Corazon Aquino and her assassinated husband, senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, both revered for leading the struggle to restore democracy in the archipelago nation.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted his “grief over the death of a sea-green incorruptible”.
He said Aquino was “brave under armed attack, wounded in crossfire, indifferent to power and its trappings, and ruled our country with a puzzling coldness but only because he hid his feelings so well it was thought he had none”.
Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen, who was Aquino’s former peace adviser, expressed “profound sadness” over the former leader’s death.
“I knew him to be a kind man, driven by his passion to serve our people, diligent in his duties, and with an avid and consuming curiosity about new knowledge and the world in general,” Leonen said.
Aquino, who was succeeded by President Rodrigo Duterte, waged an anti-corruption campaign during a term that ushered in key economic reforms.
Unusually for the conservative Catholic country, Aquino remained a bachelor throughout his life, though had relationships with a number of women.
Powerful family name
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Aquino was born on February 8, 1960 to one of the country’s wealthiest land-owning political families.
A latecomer to the presidential race in 2010, he declared his candidacy only after his mother’s death from cancer the previous year had plunged the country into mourning, and demonstrated the power of the family name.
He made fighting corruption his mantra, capitalizing on his family’s clean reputation, and vowed to reduce the poverty afflicting a third of the population.
His administration delivered average annual economic growth of just over 6.0 percent, the highest since the 1970s, handing the country investment-grade status — but poverty remained endemic.
Aquino, who earned an economics degree from the elite Ateneo de Manila University, was long mocked by opponents as a fortunately surnamed under-achiever with no administrative or business experience.
They also said he had little to show for the more-than a decade he spent as a congressman and senator.
But the chain-smoking Aquino blossomed during the election campaign into a confident public speaker and the nation’s leading critic of his predecessor, Gloria Arroyo, who was arrested for corruption after she left office.
The Aquino family name was stamped into Philippine political history through tragedy.
Military personnel shot dead “Ninoy” Aquino at Manila airport in 1983 as he returned from US exile to lead the democracy movement against dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The event shocked the world and ignited the non-violent “People Power” movement that toppled Marcos. The martyred politician’s widow, Corazon, led the revolution and succeeded Marcos as president in 1986.
Aquino had a bullet lodged in his neck — one of five that struck him when rebel soldiers attacked the presidential palace in 1987 in a coup attempt against his mother that killed three of his bodyguards.
Unlike Duterte, Aquino put the Philippines’ long-running dispute with China over competing claims to the South China Sea at the top of his foreign policy agenda.
He launched a landmark case with a UN-backed tribunal to challenge Beijing’s claims to most of the sea, which ruled in favor of the Philippines.
S. Korea eyes smooth transition of 52-hour workweek scheme for smaller firms
South Koreas top economic policymaker said Thursday the government plans to provide support to smaller firms, including assignments of foreign workers, as it seeks to make a soft landing for such companies implementing the 52-hour workweek.
Starting July 1, the country will expand the shortened workweek scheme to companies with five to 49 workers without a grace period.
Since July 2018, the country has enforced the 52-hour workweek system in a phase-in manner. The shorter workweek was devised to cap the average working hours at 52 on a weekly basis in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, well known for long working hours.
Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will focus on making a smooth transition to the workweek scheme for smaller firms as soon as possible.
“The government plans to first dispatch foreign workers to firms that have difficulties in hiring, such as companies located in provinces,” Hong said at a government meeting on the economy.
The country also plans to provide up to 1.2 million won ($1,050) per month for up to two years to smaller firms that maintain employment after hiring new employees.
Meanwhile, Hong said the government will unveil a set of measures to nurture the country’s shipping industry next week.
The country is working on strategies to rebuild the country’s shipping industry as the sector is recovering from industrywide slumps. (Yonhap)
Singapore preparing road map for living with Covid-19
SINGAPORE – Singapore will prepare its population to deal with Covid-19 as part of their daily lives and people will be able to work, travel and shop without quarantines and lockdowns, even with the coronavirus in their midst.
With enough people vaccinated, Covid-19 will be managed like other endemic diseases such as the common flu and hand, foot and mouth disease, said the three co-chairmen of the Government’s multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 as they outlined plans for Singapore to transition to a new normal.
Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said in an article published in The Straits Times on Thursday (June 24) that the priority in the next few months will be to prepare Singapore for life with Covid-19 as a recurring, controllable disease.
“It has been 18 months since the pandemic started, and our people are battle-weary. All are asking: When and how will the pandemic end?” they said.
“The bad news is that Covid-19 may never go away. The good news is that it is possible to live normally with it in our midst.”
A road map is being drawn up to shift to this new normal, and it will be done in tandem with achieving certain vaccination milestones.
Singapore has been taking steps to prepare for Covid-19 becoming endemic, and has ramped up its vaccination drive amid the battle to bring down the spike in cases.
Vaccination already appears to be effective in reducing the rates of infection and transmission. Most fully vaccinated people show mild or no symptoms even if they contract the disease.
By early next month, two-thirds of the population in Singapore will have received at least one jab of the two-jab vaccines, said the ministers.
“Our next milestone will be to have at least two-thirds of our population fully vaccinated with two doses around National Day, supply permitting. We are working to bring forward the delivery of vaccines and to speed up the process,” they said.
In time, said the ministers, people with Covid-19 will be allowed to recover at home, so there will be less concern about the healthcare system being stressed. Their close contacts can buy test kits from pharmacies to test themselves.
In fact, testing will no longer be a tool for ring-fencing and quarantining people, but will be used more for screening those who want to enter office buildings, malls and schools, among other places.
The daily updates on infection numbers will also shift to focus on outcomes, such as how many patients fall very sick and end up needing intensive care, the same way the flu is monitored.
Slowly, safe management rules can be eased, and large gatherings will once again be allowed, such as at the National Day Parade or New Year’s Eve countdown.
Businesses will also not have to fear disruptions from lockdowns.
Eventually, people will be able to travel again, with vaccination certificates in hand, to countries that have also controlled the virus and turned it into an endemic norm. They may even be exempted from quarantine with a negative test upon arrival.
“Finally, whether we can live with Covid-19 depends also on Singaporeans’ acceptance that Covid-19 will be endemic and our collective behaviour… If all of us shoulder the burden together – workers keeping their colleagues safe by staying at home when ill, and employers not faulting them – our society will be so much safer,” the ministers said.
They added: “Science and human ingenuity will eventually prevail over Covid-19. Cohesion and social consciousness will get us there faster. We must all do our part.”
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