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China says US is ‘maker of security risks’ after Taiwan Strait sailing

THE FLAGS of the United States and China fly from a lamppost in Boston, Massachusetts, US, Nov. 1, 2021. — REUTERS

BEIJING — The United States is a “maker of security risks” in the Taiwan Strait with its frequent provocations there, China’s military said on Wednesday after another US warship sailed through the sensitive waterway.

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the destroyer USS Benfold conducted a “routine” Taiwan Strait transit through international waters “in accordance with international law”.

The United States has been carrying out such voyages about once a month, angering China, which views them as a sign of support for Taiwan, the democratically governed island that Beijing views as Chinese territory.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement that its forces had followed the ship throughout and “warned” it.

“The frequent provocations and showing off by the United States fully demonstrate that the United States is a destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and a maker of security risks in the Taiwan Strait,” it said in a statement.

“Theatre forces remain on high alert at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The US Navy said the ship “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State”.

“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the US ship sailed north through the strait, and that the situation in the waterway was “as normal”.

The Benfold has been operating in the disputed South China Sea, where it has carried out two “Freedom of Navigation Operations” in the past week. — Reuters

New Zealand unveils new investor migrant visa

Image via Anup Shah/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

WELLINGTON — The New Zealand government said on Wednesday that it had created a new investor migrant visa to attract experienced, high-value investors to invest in domestic businesses.

The new Active Investor Plus visa will replace the old investment visa categories and would require migrants to make investments in New Zealand (NZ) businesses, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said in a statement.

He said the old visas had often resulted in migrants investing in shares and bonds rather than directly into New Zealand companies.

“We want to encourage active investment into New Zealand, which generates more high-skilled jobs and economic growth compared to passive investment,” Mr. Nash said.

Eligibility criteria for the new visa includes a minimum NZ$5 million ($3.1 million) investment and only 50% of that can be invested in listed equities. The visa category will open on 19 Sept. 19 2022. — Reuters

Indonesia court junks call to legalize marijuana

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday rejected a judicial review of the country’s narcotics law that would have paved the way for legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, a panel of nine judges ruled.

Three mothers of children with cerebral palsy backed by civil society organizations had in 2020 filed a judicial review of the country’s strict narcotics law, arguing for the use of medicinal marijuana to treat symptoms.

The judges said there was insufficient research to justify a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, but urged the government to “immediately” conduct research on the therapeutic usage of narcotics.

“The court needs to emphasize that the government [should] immediately follow up … The results of which can be used to determine policies, including in this case the possibility of changing the law,” said judge Suhartoyo, who like many Indonesians uses one name only.

The plaintiffs had argued that not being allowed to use narcotics for medical reasons was a constitutional violation of citizens’ rights to obtain health services and benefit from the development of science and technology.

The Southeast Asian nation has one of the world’s strictest anti-drug laws, with penalties for possession or trafficking of large quantities of narcotics including life imprisonment and death. 

But the issue has recently gained traction after a mother, Santi Warastuti, whose 13-year-old daughter has cerebral palsy, called for the legalization of marijuana for medical research on a busy street in downtown Jakarta.

The 43-year-old mother went viral after she held a placard on a crowded thoroughfare that read: “Help, my child needs medical marijuana.”

Indonesia’s parliament has recently discussed amending the rules governing medicinal marijuana, saying it would undertake a comprehensive study on its benefits.

Any moves to legalize would follow Thailand, which became the first country in the region to green-light medical marijuana in 2018, and cannabis cultivation and consumption this year. — Reuters

UK inflation hits new 40-year high

People walk past the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben clock tower in London, Britain, August 23, 2016. — REUTERS/HANNAH MCKAY

LONDON — Surging petrol and food prices last month pushed British inflation to its highest rate in 40 years, according to official figures that bolstered the chances of a rare half percentage-point Bank of England (BoE) interest rate hike next month.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said annual consumer price inflation rose in June to 9.4%, the highest since February 1982, up from May’s 9.1% and above the 9.3% consensus in a Reuters poll of economists.

The latest increase means Britain had the highest rate of inflation in June among the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies, although many smaller European Union countries are seeing even faster growth in prices.

Wednesday’s data bolstered bets that the BoE will opt for a 50-basis point rate hike next month.

Governor Andrew Bailey on Tuesday said that the scale of the increase in borrowing costs — unseen in Britain in a quarter of a century — was on the table but not “locked in”.

The BoE has raised borrowing costs five times since December as it tries to stop the surge in inflation from becoming embedded in Britain’s economy, and it is expected to increase them again on Aug. 4 after its next monetary policy meeting.

The ONS pointed to a 42% year-on-year rise in petrol prices and an almost 10% increase in food prices as the primary drivers of inflation last month.

“Soaring inflation means that momentum for a half-point interest rate rise in August is growing,” Suren Thiru, economics director of accountancy trade body ICAEW, said.

“However, tightening monetary policy too aggressively increases the risk of recession and will do little to address the global factors driving this inflationary surge.”

Investors now see an almost 100% chance of the BoE raising Bank Rate to 1.75% from 1.25% next month. It said in June that it was ready to act “forcefully” if needed.

The cost-of-living crunch has triggered a wave of industrial action by trade unions and been hotly debated among the three remaining candidates in the race to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.

Two are promising immediate tax cuts, something the other contender, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, says risks fueling inflation further.

The ONS said core inflation in June fell to 5.8% from 5.9% in May, in line with the Reuters poll median forecast, which could reassure BoE rate-setters who might be reluctant to hike rates more aggressively.

In response to the data, finance minister Nadhim Zahawi said Britain was not alone in facing runaway inflation and the government was joining forces with the BoE to tackle the problem. — Reuters

With value-adding services, e-commerce to persist despite looser restrictions

Image via ShopBack/Google Play 

People will continue to shop online even after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions have been loosened as long as businesses provide more value than they did during pre-pandemic times, according to e-commerce company partners of ShopBack, a cashback rewards program.  

Panda Pro, a subscription program under FoodPanda PH, offers customers exclusive monthly deals and benefits brand partners through promotions. 

“There is a habit that’s been created,” said Amer Bakshi, head of strategic partnerships of FoodPanda PH, at ShopBack’s July 19 event celebrating its seventh anniversary. “At the end of the day, having multiple options won’t stop them from purchasing from you. It just enhances it, because it doubles down on their decision that, ‘This is where I was purchasing from. I’m most comfortable [with this platform]. I know how it works.’”

Nathalie C. Salcedo, growth lead of local grocery delivery service MetroMart, added that convenience means being present on all channels instead of converting customers from offline to online.

“It’s providing different options to consumers who value convenience. It’s also a matter of creating that relationship,” she said. “We’ve instilled trust in them. That’s something we want to keep and improve on.”  

Edamama, which offers a curated collection of baby and maternal products and services, integrated its various channels leading to its highest gross merchandising value (GMV) since its launch in 2019.

The platform wants to maintain its 50% client repeat rate. “There will never be a shortage of babies in the Philippines,” said Karla M. Siguitan, Edamama’s director of brand and community. “If we won’t use it for our babies, it’s not going in the app.”  

Two-thirds (or 67%) of Filipino consumers who purchased online plan to continue to buy online even after quarantine restrictions are removed, per global measurement company NielsenIQ in March 2021. The Chicago-headquartered firm also noted that the change in Filipinos’ shopping culture due to the pandemic crisis is becoming permanent. 

ShopBack, which is gearing up for its year-end shopping festival ShopFest, is investing P40 million to market the event through podcasts, radio ads, and billboards. 

In last year’s festival, which covered six sales dates from September to December, the ShopBack app was opened 60.9 million times leading to 51 million user redirects and P12 billion in overall sales. About 330,000 diapers and 375 million calories were also delivered during the four-month period. 

“People are getting smarter about how they spend their money,” said Mary Jane P. Legaspi, business-to-business affiliate marketing lead of e-commerce marketplace Lazada PH. “We have been [coming out of the challenges] of the pandemic by introducing promos and prioritizing vouchers to our consumers,” she said. — Patricia B. Mirasol

PHL among SEA countries where smartphones are unaffordable — iPrice

SAMSUNG

Smartphones in the Philippines are among the “least affordable,” according to a recent study by e-commerce aggregator iPrice Group that compared mobile phone prices and monthly wages in Southeast Asia.

According to Highly Connected, But Highly Priced: Smartphones Out of Reach for Many in SEA, the average price for a mid-range smartphone in the Philippines is two times the average monthly salary — second in expensiveness only to Vietnam — where it’s 2.2 times the average monthly salary.

Even low-end smartphones cost over 70% of the average monthly wage in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, compared to Malaysia and Singapore where they cost just a third of a month’s salary or less.

Meanwhile, high-end models are simply out of reach for many in the three countries where smartphones are less affordable, costing three to six times the monthly salary. In Malaysia and Singapore, these cost just around a month’s wage or less.

This shows that, despite widespread mobile adoption, smartphone affordability varies widely across the region, according to iPrice.

“This appears to be driven not only by differences in average income levels, but also by variations in smartphone pricing where strong demand in some local markets is outstripping supply and allowing online sellers to increase pricing,” it said in its report.

iPrice also found that online sellers offered the latest iPhone models with only 10% price variation between markets, while top-end models from Oppo, Vivo, and Samsung varied up to 50% between markets, with Indonesia and the Philippines at the higher end.

The study is based on the e-commerce site’s catalog of 7.5 billion offers from various marketplaces, sellers, and brands, and pricing from 250,000 smartphone listings of Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Oppo. For each brand, high-end, mid-range, and low-end specification phones were selected.

This information was then supplemented with average monthly salary data from the World Bank to assess affordability. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

China warns of ‘forceful measures’ if US House Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan

BEIJING – China‘s government warned on Tuesday that it would take “forceful measures” if US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, after the Financial Times said she would go to the Chinese-claimed island next month.

Ms. Pelosi and her delegation will also visit Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and spend time in Hawaii at the headquarters of US Indo-Pacific command, the London newspaper added, citing people familiar with the matter.

Taiwan‘s Foreign Ministry said it has “not received relevant information” about any visit.

Asked about the report, Drew Hammill, Pelosi‘s deputy chief of staff, said, “We do not confirm or deny international travel in advance due to longstanding security protocols.”

The Democratic leader’s visit to Taiwan had been postponed from April, after she tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, China said such a visit would severely affect Chinese-U.S. relations. Read full story

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said any visit by Ms. Pelosi would “seriously undermine China‘s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

“If the US side obstinately clings to this course, China will definitely take resolute and forceful measures to firmly defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “The United States must be fully responsible for all the consequences caused by this.”

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, asked about China‘s reaction, said: “I believe the foreign ministry was weighing in on a hypothetical. That is something that I will hesitate doing here”.

Taiwan faces mounting pressure from China, which considers the democratically governed island its own territory. The issue is a constant irritant in ties between Beijing and Washington.

Taiwan, however, has been heartened by continued support offered by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has repeatedly spoken of its “rock-solid” commitment to the island.

Ms. Pelosi, a long-time critic of China, held an online meeting with Taiwanese Vice President William Lai in January as he wrapped up a visit to the United States and Honduras. Read full story

The White House had expressed concern about the Pelosi trip, the Financial Times said, citing three people familiar with the situation.

There were divisions in the Democratic U.S. administration over whether Pelosi should visit Taiwan, the FT quoted two sources as saying.

Some officials believed it had been easier to justify a visit in April, as that was just after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it added.

A spokesperson for the US National Security Council would not comment on “travel that the Speaker‘s office itself has not announced,” and reiterated that the United States remains committed to its One China policy.

Separately, the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Benfold conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Tuesday, “through international waters in accordance with international law.”

“The ship transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” it said in a statement.

The United States has been carrying out such voyages through the stretch of water separating Taiwan and China about once a month. This has angered Beijing, which views them as a sign of support for the island.

This month, China sent fighters across the Taiwan Strait’s median line, an action Taiwan described as a provocation. The incident came during a visit to Taipei by Senator Rick Scott, a Republican member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. Read full story

On Monday, China asked the United States to immediately cancel a potential sale of military technical assistance to Taiwan worth an estimated $108 million. Read full story – Reuters

Australians urged to work from home as winter Omicron wave swamps hospitals

BELLA H. /PIXABAY

SYDNEY – Australians admitted to hospitals from COVID-19 neared record levels on Wednesday as authorities urged businesses to let staff work from home and recommended people wear masks indoors and get booster shots urgently amid a major outbreak.

Australia is in the grip of a third Omicron wave driven by the highly transmissible new subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, with more than 300,000 cases recorded over the past seven days, even as authorities flagged the actual numbers could be double. Tuesday’s 50,000 cases was the highest in two months.

“We need to do some things differently at least for a short period of time,” Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told ABC Radio on Wednesday, as he predicted the number of people ending up in hospitals will soon hit an all-time high.

“We know that working from home is a very key component of stopping what we call macro spreading.”

About 5,300 Australians are currently in hospital with COVID-19, not far off the record 5,390 recorded in January during the BA.1 outbreak, official data showed. Numbers in the states of Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia are already at their highest since the pandemic began.

But Kelly said he had not recommended the reintroduction of mask mandates or any other restrictions.

Last week, Australia reinstated support payments for casual workers who have to quarantine due to COVID-19 after more workers began calling in sick. Several frontline health workers are also sick or in isolation, further straining the health system. Read full story

Authorities have also warned of a lag in people taking their booster shots worsening the health crisis.

So far, 95% of people above 16 have had two doses, helping keep Australia’s total COVID-19 cases just under 9 million and deaths at 10,845, far lower than many countries. But only about 71% have received three or more doses. – Reuters

Putin says Ukraine did not make good on preliminary peace deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Moscow did not see any desire from Ukraine to fulfil the terms of what he described as a preliminary peace deal agreed to in March.

Mr. Putin, speaking to reporters in televised comments after a visit to Iran, said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were offering to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, which Moscow’s forces invaded in late February.

There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government to Putin‘s remarks in the early hours of Wednesday.

Mr. Putin, asked about a possible meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Kyiv had not stuck to the terms of a preliminary peace deal he said had been “practically achieved” in March, without elaborating.

“The final result of course… depends on the willingness of the contracting parties to implement the agreements that were reached. Today we see the powers in Kyiv have no such desire.”

Negotiations took place in March, with both sides making proposals but without a breakthrough. At the time, Mr. Zelenskiy said only a concrete result from the talks could be trusted.

Mr. Putin met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Tuesday, deepening ties between the two countries who are both under Western sanctions.

During the visit to Iran, Mr. Putin also met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to discuss a deal that would resume Ukraine‘s Black Sea grain exports, now blockaded by Russia.

Russia was ready to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports by the Black Sea, but also wanted the remaining curbs on Russian grain exports to be removed, said Mr. Putin, who was shown by Rossiya state TV answering questions from media at the end of his visit to Iran.

On Tuesday the Russian leader had said not all the issues had been resolved yet on grain shipments, “but the fact that there is movement is already good.” Read full story

It was Mr. Putin‘s first in-person meeting with a NATO leader since Russian troops invaded and was a pointed message to the West about Russian plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India to help offset Western sanctions imposed over the invasion.

 

ISOLATED

The trip shows how isolated Russia has become, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Read full story

Mr. Kirby also said the United States was preparing to unveil another weapons package for Ukraine. Citing U.S. intelligence, he accused Russia of laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory. Read full story

The Kremlin has said there is no time limit to a conflict it calls a “special military operation” to ensure its own security. Ukraine and the West condemn it as an unprovoked war of aggression against its neighbor.

Russia was trying to “drag” Ukraine into a protracted conflict into the winter, Mr. Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said in a magazine interview published on Tuesday. Read full story

“It is very important for us not to enter the winter. After winter, when the Russians will have more time to dig in, it will certainly be more difficult” for any Ukrainian counter-offensive, Mr. Yermak said.

More than two weeks have passed since Russia’s last major territorial gain – capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk. But in a now familiar pattern, Russian missiles slammed into targets across Ukraine on Tuesday.

At least one person was killed in a Russian missile strike on the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, authorities said.

“I felt a really powerful explosion and I understood it was somewhere here,” said Valentina, 70-year-old local resident whose son-in-law, Maksym, was critically injured in the attack.

“I called my daughter and she says that Maksym is not picking up the phone. He must have been knocked off then,” she cried.

Video footage from the scene showed a large pool of blood among fallen leaves.

Ukraine‘s air force said in a Facebook post that it had shot down a Russian fighter jet with a missile over Nova Kakhovka, to the east of the city of Kherson, which is occupied by Moscow’s forces. Reuters could not immediately verify the Ukrainian account.

 

GAS EXPORTS

As the war drags on, concerns that Russia may halt supplies of natural gas to Europe have risen.

In response, the European Union is considering a voluntary 15% cut in natural gas use by its member states beginning next month, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing EU diplomats.

Brussels is expected to publish plans on Wednesday for how the 27 EU members can reduce gas use. The exact number for the reduction target was not specified in a draft document of the plan seen by Reuters. Read full story

Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom was ready to fulfil its obligations on gas exports, Putin said, and was not to blame for a reduction in gas transit capacity, including shutting down one of the routes via Ukraine to Europe by Kyiv. Read full story – Reuters

Sri Lanka could tip back to chaos if six-time PM voted president

JALITHA HEWAGE-UNSPLASH

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s parliament will choose between three candidates for president on Wednesday, hoping the new leader will be able to pull the island out of its worst economic and political crisis since independence in 1948.

But a win for acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, one of the main two contenders but opposed by many ordinary Sri Lankans, could lead to more demonstrations by people furious with the ruling elite after months of crippling shortages of fuel, food and medicines.

Ruling-party lawmaker Dullas Alahapperuma, a former journalist, is more acceptable to the protesters and the opposition but does not have any top-level governance experience in a country with barely any dollars for imports and desperately in need of an IMF bailout.

The third candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna party, commands only three seats in parliament and has no realistic chance of winning. Read full story

Mr. Wickremesinghe, a six-time prime minister, became acting president last week after the then incumbent, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to Singapore when protesters seized his official residence and office, roaming the corridors, using his gym and swimming in his pool.

Protesters also burned down Mr. Wickremesinghe’s private home and stormed his office, but failed to oust him. Mr. Wickremesinghe said this week that by the time he joined the current government as prime minister in May, the economy had already collapsed.

Sri Lankans have blamed the Rajapaksas – seven from the family were in the government as of April – for the meltdown. Their decisions to cut taxes and ban chemical fertilizers, which damaged crops, decimated the debt-laden economy that was badly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was not immediately clear how much support 73-year-old Wickremesinghe, seen as an ally of the Rajapaksa clan, and 63-year-old Mr. Alahapperuma have in the 225-seat parliament.

Mr. Wickremesinghe is backed by a section of the ruling party that had a total of 145 seats as of the last parliamentary election in 2020. Mr. Alahapperuma has the support of the other section as well as the main opposition party that won 54 seats last time round.

Latest numbers are not clear because some lawmakers have become independents.

“Earlier Ranil Wickremesinghe was the front-runner but now the outcome is much more uncertain,” said political scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda.

“The balance of parliament power has shifted away from him. The outcome is dependent on how much control the Rajapaksas have … over their party members.”

Sri Lanka’s parliament in 1993 unanimously chose D.B. Wijetunga to finish the tenure of assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa. This time three candidates are in the fray to complete Rajapaksa’s term, scheduled to end in 2024.

“It will be marked as a new experience in the parliamentary history of this country,” a statement from the communication chief of parliament said, laying out the procedure.

A candidate receiving more than one-third of the valid votes cast will be declared elected. If no candidate reaches the mark, the one with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated from the competition and preferences of lawmakers taken into account to eventually arrive at a winner.

Whatever the process, protesters are clear they want Mr. Wickremesinghe gone. Wickremesinghe, for his part, imposed a state of emergency on Monday, giving him more powers to launch a crackdown should he feel the need.

“We are protesting again Ranil. He is a corrupted man,” said Duminda Nagamuwa, who organised protests in Colombo after the nominations were finalized.

“If Ranil comes (into power), we cannot have stability.” – Reuters

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The show’s theme is “Thriving the New Normal and Business Opportunities,” which seeks to highlight the importance of being open to change as well as the value of innovation. This applies to all kinds of businesses to gain more opportunities in the industry. Followers are encouraged to watch out for their online ‘Business Innovation Talks Seminar’ or BITS and Tech review segment of chosen brands that participated at FINTEX event, these will be released on their social media page.

FINTEX bears a strong commitment to empowering the local franchise and technological industry by setting the stage for promising B2B connections marked by the innovation of various forces and bold new concepts and ideas. On the impression of FINTEX devotion to the local industry, PASALO PH Services Senior Transferal Manager Jen Pascua remarked, “For the 1st year of FINTEX, it has become a useful platform for local businesses to showcase their products and services, to create new partnerships and clients.”

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Marcos administration aims to boost 50% of population in first 100 days

The government has to vaccinate 397,334 individuals per day for 60 days in order to achieve the target of 50% booster coverage set by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., for his first 100 days in office, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a July 19 Viber message.

This number represents about half of the 78,100,578 individuals in the eligible population, minus the 15,210,257 who have already been given their first booster (or their third dose), explained the DoH. “Doing so will strengthen the wall of immunity of our population to prevent severe and critical COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) cases.”

“Muli kong inihahayag sa inyo ang importansya ng pagpapabakuna at booster shots [I am reiterating the importance of vaccinations and booster shots],” Mr. Marcos said in a July 16 vlog.

“Malaking bahagi ito sa preparasyon natin sa pagbabalik ng face to face classes at sa pagluwag ng iba pang [This is a huge part of our preparation back to face-to-face classes and the loosening of our other] safety protocols.]”

Mr. Marcos exited isolation on July 15 after testing positive for the virus July 8.

The DoH has reiterated the need to get boosted as it sees COVID-19 cases may peak by the end of July while hospitalization may rise by the end of August.

 An expert review on global real-world vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, showed that messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer), vector vaccines (AstraZeneca), and inactivated virus vaccines (CoronaVac) “provide consistently high (>90%) protection against serious clinical outcomes like hospitalizations and deaths, regardless of variant.”

Omicron is the most dominant variant in the Philippines. — Patricia B. Mirasol

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