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Biotech firm MTek gets FDA approval for ASF test kit

LOCAL biotechnology firm Manila HealthTek, Inc. (MTek) secured the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Oct. 12 for its test kit that detects African Swine Fever (ASF).

MTek said in a statement late Monday that it is now preparing for the test kit’s nationwide rollout, which is expected to start before the end of 2021.

“The highly contagious, often fatal pig disease, continues to threaten not just food security but the livelihood of local farmers. Quick detection is needed to ensure rapid response and containment of the disease,” MTek said.

Raul V. Destura, MTek founder and chief executive officer, said the company’s ASF test kit costs less since it is locally manufactured.

“In fact, it is the cheapest reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for ASF in the market,” Mr. Destura said.

“We want to reach out, most especially to the small producers, who don’t have a biosecurity system in place that bigger farms have,” he added.

In August, MTek announced that it developed the ASF test kit. The biotech firm said the product had been deemed 100% sensitive and 100% specific after being validated by a national reference animal-testing laboratory.

Based on its website, MTek is engaged in developing portable diagnostic kits that test for various infectious diseases.

Some of the kits developed by MTek are the Biotek-M DengueAqua Kit and the GenAmplify coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) RT-PCR test kit.

ASF is a hemorrhagic viral disease that affects pigs but poses no health risk to humans, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. The country’s first outbreak was confirmed in 2019, and has since affected the its hog inventory, causing high pork prices.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture declared Abuyog, Leyte as officially free from ASF after 211 days since the animal disease was first detected in the area. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Liked Netflix’s The Chair?

Here are 4 moving, funny novels set in English departments

ENGLISH departments are strange places. Even to those of us who spend our working lives inside them, they can seem utterly mysterious. Those looking in from outside must find them even more baffling. What exactly do lecturers do all day? They teach and interact with students, but what happens the rest of the time?

Literary scholars everywhere, writes Terry Eagleton, “live in a state of dread — a dread that one day, someone … will suddenly get wise to the fact that we draw salaries for reading poems and novels.” This fact, say Eagleton, “is as scandalous as being paid for sunbathing [or] eating chocolate.”

He has a point.

Harvard professor Deidre Shauna Lynch says even more bluntly that what English academics get up to simply “does not look like work” to those on the outside. Those of us writing on literature, she suggests, must make our peace with this fact. We must resign ourselves to being largely unknown to the broader culture, living in quiet obscurity.

And yet, as Netflix’s The Chair makes clear, life within an English department can actually look a lot like life in any other workplace. At the fictional Pembroke University, there are familiar office politics and dramas, as well as the usual mixture of ambition, resentment, and status-seeking that exist elsewhere. Professor Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh) steers a team of colleagues who have eccentric literary quirks but are recognizable figures in many workplaces.

If you enjoyed this series, I’d recommend checking out these four novels, all of which offer compelling depictions of English departments. Forget the Campus Novel — the English Department Novel is a more interesting sub-genre.

1. Richard Russo, Straight Man (1997)

Mr. Russo’s comic novel shares many similarities with The Chair. It centers on the madcap adventures of William Henry Devereaux, Jr., who chairs an English department similar in size to that of Pembroke. Furious about recent financial cuts, Devereaux takes matters into his own hands. He uses a local television network to publicize his cause, threatening to kill one goose from the university pond every day until his department’s budget is reinstated.

Mr. Russo emphasizes the slapstick, farcical side of departmental politics. Straight Man is a glorious send up of self-serious academics, the politics of literary theory, and intellectual ambition.

It also offers a perfect gloss on the old adage that academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so low. I strongly suspect that the writers of The Chair had Devereaux in mind while creating the similarly hapless Bill Dobson (Jay Duplass).

2. John Williams, Stoner (1965)

John Williams may well have written the most moving novel ever to be set in an English department.

In understated, elegiac prose, Mr. Williams gives us the tragic life story of William Stoner, an obscure English professor at the University of Missouri, who enters as an agriculture student but develops a lifelong passion for literature. He lives his entire life against the backdrop of the university, and all of his significant relationships are found within the English department.

While Stoner’s contributions to the field seem middling to his colleagues, he inspires generations of students with his generous and rigorous teaching. His personal life may well be a kind of tragedy, but he finds redemption in his teaching and research, and a true home in the department.

Mr. Williams gives us an example of the English department novel at its most existential and weighty, one beloved of readers inside and outside the academy.

3. Mary McCarthy, The Groves of Academe (1952)

Ms. McCarthy’s novel takes us back to comedy once again, mining the same territory as The Chair and Straight Man but written well in advance of either. Drawing on her own experiences at Bard College and elsewhere, Ms. McCarthy gives us a farce with a serious political edge. Set at the fictional Jocelyn College, the novel centers on Henry Mulcahy, an expert on James Joyce who learns he has been let go, seemingly without cause.

As he fights to save his position, Ms. McCarthy shows us the subtle and shifting nature of allegiances within the English departments she knew firsthand, as well as the petty disputes and lurid scandals they can harbor. She pulls no punches, laying bare the gossip, naked careerism, and backstabbing that even seemingly mild-mannered English academics are capable of.

The novel also gives us a classic bait-and-switch. The central character, Mulcahy, whom we initially see as sympathetic and unfairly mistreated, slowly comes into focus as manipulative and profoundly unlikable. As we begin to see the central events from the perspective of once minor characters, the truth is revealed, and Ms. McCarthy skillfully shows us the mistakes of our earlier judgments.

4. Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety (1987)

This wise and moving novel explores the lifelong friendship between two couples, Larry and Sally Morgan and Sid and Charity Lang. Sid and Larry are English professors in Madison, Wisconsin, and the novel follows them as they chase literary ambitions while also managing substantial teaching duties.

Both are striving for tenure and are forced to negotiate complicated faculty politics. Ultimately, this is a novel about “quiet lives,” as the narrator tells us. Its great themes are friendship, marriage, and the nature of love.

And while the English department often fades into the background as Mr. Stegner explores other aspects of his characters’ lives, its politics are never far away. Sid and Larry are often concerned with the petty machinations of their academic colleagues, and Crossing to Safety includes many details that still resonate with life at a university today. Mr. Stegner’s novel also offers a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of literary studies from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Of course, there are many other novels within this sub-genre, including David Lodge’s beloved campus trilogy, as well as novels by Vladimir Nabokov, J.M. Coetzee, and others. While eating chocolate and sunbathing wouldn’t necessarily make for interesting fiction, life in an English department, it seems, certainly does.

 

Lucas Thompson is a Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Sydney.

In for the long haul: Recovered COVID patients report lingering symptoms

UNSPLASH

By Patricia B. Mirasol  

FOR SOME PATIENTS, surviving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not the end of it. A percentage of those who recover still suffer from long COVID, a condition characterized by symptoms such as chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction.  

“I have a very low quality of life. Everything is excruciatingly hard. It’s like my body forgot how to work,” said Karen Nina Ibañez-Danao in an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld. Simple activities such as showering now require her husband’s help. “Even then, I get exhausted midway.”  

Ms. Danao was declared recovered from COVID-19 on Aug. 14, 2020.   

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines long COVID as a condition that “occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms and that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.”  

In a white paper published this June, US-based non-profit organization FAIR Health reported that nearly a quarter (or 23.2%) of COVID-19 patients will have at least one post-COVID symptom.  

NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN  
For other COVID-19 survivors like Beth R., fatigue isn’t so much a problem as the lack of oxygen coursing through her body.  

“The hingal [shortness of breath] never went away  it’s just less now,” she said in a Viber interview with BusinessWorld. “My doctor at the hospital said that, according to her patients, the hingal persists for a long time.”  

To help her breathe, she has oxygen tanks in the bathroom and bedroom, and an oxygen generator for when she moves to the living room or kitchen.   

Even doing intellectual work while hooked to an oxygen tank takes its toll after an hour. “You have to lie down. It’s like I can do more when lying down than sitting up,” she added.  

Ms. R., who declined to give her full name due to professional reasons, was hospitalized for two weeks and discharged as negative for COVID-19 on Aug. 31. She was infected a week after her first vaccine dose, and has since lost 25 pounds in her post-COVID journey as a result of her lack of appetite.  

CHAMELEON-LIKE 
Initiatives such as the global AFTERCOR study, a two-year research program on the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 ICU (intensive care unit) survivors, are gathering data from its partner medical institutions to gain a better understanding of the medical condition’s mechanism.   

“We really don’t have enough evidence yet from its pathophysiology,” said Dr. Karen Wildi, an Australia-based intensive care physician that co-leads the AFTERCOR study team. “What’s quite peculiar with COVID-19 is that it’s such a chameleon.”   

“It seems to have a high affinity to the brain,” she told BusinessWorld in a Zoom call, but it “pretty much affects every organ system.”  

Another two-year study, the GINCO Cohort e-ASIA (or the Genetics, Immunological and Neurological Long-term Consequences in Prospective COVID-19 Cohort in Thailand, Japan, Philippines, and USA), likewise commenced this May to shed light on the phenomenon based on data from the four countries involved.   

“The cohort… will be composed of at least 90 COVID-19 recovered patients; 30 of whom will be Filipinos aged at least 50 years who have recovered from severe COVID-19,” said Dr. Fresthel Monica M. Climacosa, principal investigator of the Philippine study team, in a separate e-mail to BusinessWorld. 

BRAIN FOG
Life has not gotten better for Ms. Danao 14 months post-recovery. She suffers from brain fog, tremors, hair loss, painful knuckles, and a swelling of her extremities. She also has chronic strokes.  

“I sometimes forget words mid-sentence, have difficulty composing sentences, and experience short-medium term memory loss,” she said. Her strokes, meanwhile, compelled her to discontinue her physical therapy exercises and take injectable blood thinners to the tune of P60,000 for a two-week supply.  

“My doctor said I may have to take blood thinners for the rest of my life because no one knows yet how long the strokes will last,” she said.   

The various long-term COVID treatments have taken a toll on the single-income household. Ms. Danao has since taken to social media to seek help defraying costs.   

The definition of quality of life is very individual, said Dr. Wildi.  

“In the end, you have to [consider] the quality of life,” she said. “What we can find objectively is different from a patient’s view of the symptoms troubling him.”  

Patient monitoring for both the AFTERCOR and the GINCO Cohort e-ASIA studies include periodic follow-ups, biochemistry testing, and neurological examinations.  

It’s not only “long-haulers” that will feel the pinch, but the economy too. The “loss of health and capacity is a demand shock that impacts the ability of the labor force to work,” pointed out a Forbes article. Society, it added, will have to shoulder the costs of its disabled members.  

Ms. R. likened long COVID to “transcending hell.”   

“You realize as an individual you are all alone in this journey to hell and the only thing going for you is your faith in the future — that you could still be around for your loved ones, for your dreams and for your country,” she said.   

 

Medical centers interested in joining the global AFTERCOR study may e-mail its principal investigators at aftercor@health.qld.gov.au. The study also welcomes funding assistance.  

Arts & Culture (10/27/21)

NICOLE Barroso and Eugene Obille in excerpts from the ballet Le Corsaire — PHOTO BY VICTOR URSABIA

CCP presents Dance On!

FILIPINO dancers and choreographers have responded to the changing times through Dance On!, the culminating performances of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Professional Dance Support Program. Amid the challenging situation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCP initiated a special program to support the professional dance industry in the country. The program is under the mentorship of National Artist Alice Reyes, and dance masters Alden Lugnasin and Nonoy Froilan. Every week until Dec. 5, a series of dance performances will premiere live online on the CCP Facebook and YouTube Channel. The dance videos will remain posted on the CCP Online YouTube Channel after their live premieres. Premiering on Oct. 31 is the dance Light, at the end of, by choreographer Patrick John Rebullida, which explores what it means to value each part of the life cycle in equanimity. With music by Jose Buencamino, dancers John Ababon, Luigie Barrera, Justine Orande, Erl Sorilla, Sarah Alejandro, Stephanie Santiago, Jessa Tangalin, Regine Magbitang, and Nicole Barroso show through movement that all the pain, suffering, and death are but part of an evolution. Upcoming performances are: Nov. 7, Inlababo and In the Midst of Overcoming, featuring the music of Eddie Peregrina and choreography by John Ababon, and Nov. 14, Headspace, by choreographer-dancer Roneldon Yadao; Nov. 21, Re-FORM by choreographer Biag Gaongen; Nov. 28, Now by choreographer Lester Reguindin; and, Dec. 5, I Wanna Say Something by Choreographer JM Cabling. For more information, follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and visit the CCP website www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.

Art Lounge Manila presents ‘Plantitos y Plantitas’

ART Lounge Manila opens the exhibition “Plantitos y Plantitas” with partner plant atelier Arid and Aroids. “Plantitos y Plantitas” is an art-and-plant exhibition where the gallery is also an indoor landscaped garden inside the Podium Mall. It runs until Oct. 30. Presenting their works are painter-sculptor Tet Ureta Aligaen, botanical painter Dindon Cordova, painters Inka Madera, Julie Gil, Anna de Leon, Kristine Lim, Carlo Magno, Christian Mirang, Francis Nacion, Lisa Villasenor and mixed media artist Melissa Yeung Yap. For inquiries, call 0977-839-8971 or 0998-993-7963, or e-mail info@artloungemanila.com. For updates on upcoming shows, visit https://artloungemanila.com.

Consignments accepted for auction

SALCEDO Auctions is accepting consignments until the end of the month for the Under the Tree: The Wish List Gavel&Block Holiday auctions. The auction will be held live and online on Nov. 27. For more details on consignments, visit https://salcedoauctions.com/getting-started/sell. For inquiries, e-mail info@salcedoauctions.com, or contact 8823-0956 or 0917-107-5581.

Intramuros to open venues for exercise

AS INTRAMUROS reopens its sites, museums, and indoor attractions, to provide the public with alternative and safer venues for leisurely activity, the Intramuros Administration (IA) will soon open its open-air sites as venues for morning exercises exclusively for the vulnerable population starting Oct. 30. The vulnerable population, namely the senior citizens, persons with disability (PWD), pregnant women, and persons with health risks will be allotted two hours every Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m., to do their morning exercises at Fort Santiago and Baluarte de San Diego. Through an advance ticket reservation system, vulnerable individuals who are fully vaccinated can avail of this exclusive arrangement. The program for the fully vaccinated vulnerable population is open every Saturday, beginning Oct. 30, and can be booked through the following link: bit.ly/3ilptmu. For more information, the public can visit the social media accounts of Intramuros Administration on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Inquiries may also be directed to tourism@intramuros.gov.ph.

Photo club holds exhibit-sale for kid’s education foundation

THE ZONE Five Camera Club (ZVCC or Zone V) is holding an online exhibit and charity sale at www.zonev.org from Oct. 23 to 31. Called “Images of H.O.P.E. (HELPING OTHERS PROSPER & EXCEL)”, the week-long event will showcase some of the best still camera work by Zone V. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Assumption Development Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the learning development of select youths of Sapang Palay, Bulacan. Featured will be color and black & white prints from its 50 members, including the club’s Ambassadors of Zone Five, a group composed of Jay Camus, Manny Inumerable, Cha Pagdilao, James Singlador, Danny Yu, and Ruben Castor Ranin, who was himself a recipient of an ADF scholarship.

Ateneo Art Gallery holds INK exhibit

ANG ILUSTRADOR ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the country’s first and only organization of illustrators for children, presents a fresh collection of artwork sharing personal experiences of members in response to the prompt: “What is your INK story?” Currently, Ang INK has more than 70 active members who are illustrators, graphic designers, painters, writers, teachers working in educational institutions, publishing companies, and design and advertising agencies. The exhibit, “INK Story: 30 Years of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan,” is ongoing at the Wilson L Sy Prints and Drawing Gallery of Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG). While the AAG remains closed to the public until further notice, Ang INK and AAG will release an online walkthrough of the exhibition through their respective social media accounts and websites. Inquiries about the exhibit and AAG’s reopening may be sent via e-mail at aag@ateneo.edu.

Ateneo lecture tackles gender violence in pop culture

TO CELEBRATE Time’s Up Ateneo’s (TUA) second anniversary, is will hold “Confronting GBV in Pop Culture,” featuring two short lectures, which will focus on care, community, and how to forward anti-gender-based violence in everyday physical and discursive spaces. The lectures will be followed by breakout sessions where audience members can have a discussion with the speakers. The event will be held on Oct. 30, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. via Zoom. Register via this link: https://tinyurl.com/TUAOct30. Links will be sent to registrants a few days before the event. The first lecture is entitled “The Look of Lust: On the violence of the gaze” by Dr. Ninotchka Mumtaj “Taz” Albano, who draws attention to gender-based violence implied by the objectifying gaze in pop-culture (fashion, movies, media) where spectators take part in objectification, sexualization and oppression. The second lecture is “Cancel Your Darlings: Towards a shared reckoning with fraught art” by Bee Leung. Her lecture imagines the possibilities of transformative community readership beyond the poles of cancel culture and separating the art from the artist. If we do not want to deny the harm texts and their creators may cause, then we need the right vocabularies and venues to explore what, if anything, there is to be reclaimed.

Crimson Boracay announces first artist-in-residence

IN LINE with its thrust towards becoming a center for arts and culture in the heart of Boracay, Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay has announced the appointment of its first-ever artist-in-residence, Eric Egualada. This creative residency will run for four months and include a number of activities. Mr. Egualada will be handling on-site painting classes and art-related workshops for guests, local residents, and staff members, as a way of encouraging them to become more creative and expressive. As artist-in-residence, Mr. Egualada will be involved in Crimson’s ARTS in Youth initiative wherein Crimson will sponsor several young students in their artistic education. Other creative pursuits currently in the pipeline for Crimson include a series of art exhibitions and workshops, art and food events, as well as a series of demonstrations by some of the country’s best visual artists. Mr. Egualada, a native of Angono, Rizal, has been painting for over 35 years and is an alumnus of the Jose Rizal University in Mandaluyong. An educator as well as an artist, he taught at the Angono National High School. Likewise, he trained for four years with the Department of Education, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the special arts program of the Dalubhasaan sa Edukasyon, Sining, at Kultura. Visit www.crimsonhotel.com or follow @CrimsonBoracay on Facebook and Instagram for more information.

Filmmaker Richard Somes holds first solo exhibit

FILM and TV director Richard Somes is holding his first solo exhibit in a move he calls is a fulfillment of his childhood dream and a way for him to cope with the pandemic. Mr. Somes, known for films such as Yanggaw, We Will Not Die Tonight (2018) and Historiographika Errata (2017), taught himself how to paint which eventually led him to sideline as a tattoo artist. He became a production designer and a film director with 24 directorial credits to his name. When the pandemic struck in 2020 and the entertainment industry locked down, Mr. Somes took up painting to cope with anxiety and depression. His first solo exhibit, is ongoing at the Secret Fresh Gallery at the Ronac Art Center in San Juan City. It features 10 of his works. The exhibit’s titled Inside the Mind of Richard V. Somes.

Cebu Design Week to hold Art Fair

CEBU Design Week, in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), is presenting the Visayas Art Fair: Connecting the Islands Through Art on Nov. 25-28, at Montebello Villa Hotel, Cebu City. The Visayas Art Fair is part of NCCA’s celebration of Museums and Galleries Month in the month of October. Dates were moved to November because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Visayas Art Fair 2021 is a historical undertaking to unite three regions (Regions 6, 7, and 8) of the Visayas to present their Visayan identity, arts and culture to the world. Simultaneous with the visual arts exhibition will be art demonstrations, art talks, musical performances, among others, showcasing Visayan creativity.

Ayala Land unveils underpass ceiling mural

AYALA Land unveiled a vibrant mural featuring various flora and fauna from various regions of the Philippines at the Legazpi Underpass in Makati. According to the mural’s lead artists Janica Rina and Jerson Samson, “It also tells the story of how humans and nature can harmoniously thrive together and also reminds us to value the natural treasures in our homeland.” They were assisted by displaced artists in completing this mural. The Legazpi Underpass stands parallel to Ayala Avenue at the heart of the MCBD and it connects the Ayala Triangle Gardens and Ayala Center. Other underpasses in Makati that have ceiling murals are the Salcedo Underpass and the Ayala Avenue Underpass. To watch the official unveiling of the Legazpi Underpass mural, visit the Make It Makati Facebook page: https://fb.watch/8JTZf-hCrl/.

Globe’s new sculpture lights up

GLOBE took part in the 2021 National Mental Health Week celebration by lighting up its blue lobby glass sculpture at its headquarters, The Globe Tower, on Oct. 8. The glass sculpture, called The Flow, is a Bohemian hand-blown glass designed by Libor Sostak and developed by Lasvit exclusively for Globe. It is inspired by “The flow of data in virtual and infinite space that are spreading to all directions over the globe.” “Light Up Blue for Mental Health” is an initiative by the Philippine Mental Health Association (PMHA) and several other partners to put the spotlight on mental wellness and its importance, especially during the pandemic. The color blue as a symbol of serenity, peace and calmness provided a beacon of hope during this time of health crisis. It was the second time for the annual activity to be held locally. Establishments and institutions that supported the campaign include the Philippine International Convention Center, National Museum, Quezon City Government, Lourdes School of Mandaluyong, DepEd Tayo Kapangan National High School, Ambangeg National High School, Philippine National Police Cordillera, Adamson University, UP College of Public Health, and the Ifugao United Action Force: among others. As an advocate of mental health for almost a decade now, Globe has programs such as HOPELINE, a round-the-clock suicide prevention and crisis support desk created in 2012 with Globe providing the necessary technology for its operations. HOPELINE can be accessed using the HealthNow app’s Urgent Help button on the welcome page. Another initiative is HopeChat, a mental health consultation platform developed with Australia-based Virtual Psychologist for employees. It was piloted to over 8,000 employees back in July 2020 to help them deal with the psychological impact of COVID-19. Globe also partnered with Bantay Bata 163, a child welfare program of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc., which protects disadvantaged and at-risk children through a nationwide network of social services. Bantay Bata #163 and the HOPELINE 2919 are toll-free for all Globe and TM customers.

Cebu Pacific says 14 local destinations offer easier entry to fully vaccinated passengers

BUDGET carrier Cebu Pacific said there are now 14 local destinations in its network that no longer require swab tests for travel.

“Bohol, Roxas and Cebu City join the list of destinations in [Cebu Pacific’s] network that have simplified travel requirements and do not require RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) or antigen testing,” the airline said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

The three destinations now accept fully-vaccinated individuals with valid or verified vaccination certificates.

“More local government units (LGUs) are simplifying their travel requirements as we see more of the country open up,” said Candice A. Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and customer service.

“This is a welcome development and we look forward to more destinations applying a risk-based approach to travel, as we work together to instill safe and convenient travel within the Philippines,” she added.

The airline also reminded passengers to always check with the LGU of their destination for the latest updates.

Cebu Pacific has brought home over the past two weeks 1,417 Filipinos from Dubai via seven special commercial flights in support of the government’s repatriation program.

The airline said it had flown more than 6,500 Filipinos from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Bahrain since July.

The budget carrier’s domestic network covers 31 destinations, on top of its eight international destinations. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine protective, safe in young children

MODERNA, INC. said on Monday its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine generated a strong immune response in children aged six to 11 years and that it plans to submit the data to global regulators soon.  

Moderna said its two-dose vaccine generated virus-neutralizing antibodies in children and safety was comparable to what was previously seen in clinical trials of adolescents and adults. It cited interim data that has yet to be peer reviewed.  

It was unclear when US regulators will weigh in on the shot. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for adults over the age of 18 years and is waiting for a response to its June application for children aged 12 through 17.  

It is behind rivals Pfizer, Inc. and BioNTech SE, whose vaccine has been authorized for ages 12 and up since May. A panel of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration will meet on Tuesday to decide whether to recommend Pfizer’s vaccine in children aged five to 11 years.  

Moderna said that in its trial of 4,753 participants, side effects were mostly mild to moderate in severity. The most common side effects were fatigue, headache, fever and injection site pain.  

The company statement did not disclose any new information about cases of heart inflammation called myocarditis, a known side effect of mRNA vaccines.  

The shots were 50-microgram doses, half the strength used in the primary vaccine series for adults and the same as the booster dose authorized for adults. It is higher than the 10-microgram dose Pfizer is planning for its vaccine in children.  

Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines have been linked to myocarditis in young men.  

Some studies have suggested the rate of incidence in recipients of the Moderna vaccine may be higher than in Pfizer recipients, perhaps because of the stronger dose of vaccine.  

Sweden has paused the use of the Moderna vaccine for younger age groups because of the higher risk of myocarditis.  

While children rarely become seriously ill or die from COVID-19, some do develop rare complications, and COVID-19 cases in unvaccinated children have risen due to the contagious Delta variant.  

Children can also spread the virus, infecting those who are not protected by vaccines and giving the virus more room to develop new variations.  

Moderna shares rose 2% in morning trading. — Reuters 

Converge expects Bicol subscriber base to grow by nearly 80%

CONVERGE ICT Solutions, Inc. on Tuesday said its subscriber base in the Bicol region is expected to grow by nearly 80% this year, with its pure fiber optic network covering almost half of the region’s population.

The listed fiber broadband provider said it had landed its pure fiber domestic subsea backbone in three points in Bicol.

“These are key landing points in Southern Luzon, which complete the redundancy loop that starts in San Juan, Batangas and passes through Roxas – Mindoro, Boracay, Roxas – Iloilo and ends in Milagros, Masbate,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

“These loops provide an alternate route for internet traffic to go through in the case of an outage or failure, caused by a natural disaster, on the primary route of the subsea cables,” it added.

Converge also said this development marks its entry into the Masbate province.

“We are the only player in this southern Luzon region with a pure, end-to-end fiber network, and we are aggressively expanding as we continue laying down our domestic fiber backbone interconnecting the Philippine islands and fortifying our entire network,” said Dennis Anthony H. Uy, chief executive officer and co-founder of Converge.

“The solid increase in our customer base in Region V is hinged on our entry into Masbate, and our deeper presence in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon,” he added.

Converge ICT shares closed 0.47% lower at P31.95 apiece on Tuesday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Gov’t partially awards reissued seven-year bonds

BW FILE PHOTO
THE BUREAU of the Treasury partially awarded the reissued bonds it auctioned off on Tuesday. — BW FILE PHOTO

THE GOVERNMENT partially awarded the reissued Treasury bonds (T-bonds) it offered on Tuesday as the tenor’s rate increased on concerns over inflationary pressures resulting from rising oil prices.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised just P19.315 billion via the reissued seven-year T-bonds it auctioned off on Tuesday, less than the programmed P35 billion, even as the tenor attracted P57.215 billion in bids.

The notes, which have a remaining life of six years and nine months, fetched an average rate of 4.468%, 26.1 basis points higher than the 4.207% quoted when the series was last offered on Oct. 5.

Still, the average yield fetched for the seven-year papers on Tuesday was lower than the 4.519% quoted for the tenor at the secondary market prior to the auction, based on the PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service Reference Rates published on the Philippine Dealing System’s website.

Had the Treasury made a full award of its offer on Tuesday, the reissued bonds would have fetched an average rate of 4.584%.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said in a Viber message to reporters after the auction that the government decided on a partial award of the papers to keep its yield aligned with rates at the secondary market.

Ms. De Leon said despite the partial award, the government has sufficient financing buffers as it took advantage of the low rates seen previously.

Improving revenue collections and additional official development assistance inflows will also support the government’s cash position, she added.

A bond trader said in a Viber message that the seven-year papers fetched a higher yield amid concerns over rising oil prices and its impact on inflation, as well as expectations of monetary policy tightening in other economies.

“Rising oil prices continue to contribute to inflationary pressures. High oil prices may also be a sign that economies abroad are recovering implied by the demand for oil. In turn, if recovery is evidenced by good economic data abroad then foreign central banks may decide to raise rates,” the trader said.

Global oil prices on Tuesday were driven up by strong demand in the United States, Reuters reported. Brent crude went up 13 cents or 0.2% to $86.12 a barrel, while US oil rose 5 cents or 0.1% to $83.81 a barrel.

The BTr is looking to raise P200 billion from the local market this month: P60 billion from weekly offers of Treasury bills and P140 billion from weekly auctions of T-bonds.

The government wants to borrow P3 trillion from domestic and external sources this year to help fund a budget deficit seen to hit 9.3% of gross domestic product. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera plots a cautious return to the stage

CAST members stand on the stage after performing on the re-opening night of Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater in New York City, New York, US, Oct. 22. — REUTERS/CAITLIN OCHS

NEW YORK —  Meghan Picerno was back at work after 18 months of pandemic limbo, overjoyed to be singing and dancing again with her Phantom of the Opera castmates as they rehearsed for the return of Broadway’s longest-running show.

As the musical’s late October reopening neared, sometimes all Ms. Picerno could think about was making it to the first curtain call unscathed by the breakthrough coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases that had sidelined vaccinated actors at other shows.

Outside long days in a chilly mirror-lined rehearsal studio near New York City’s Times Square, Ms. Picerno had put herself back on what she called lockdown.

“I’m a full-on monk now,” she said during a rushed lunch break between back-to-back run throughs.

She knew her job came with risks of exposure. Playing the show’s heroine Christine required Ms. Picerno to kiss two co-stars daily and to sing full-throated love songs with them unmasked and at close range.

“Hopefully, none of us have it, because if one of us have it, we all have it,” she said.

The crowded Broadway theaters, vital to the city’s tourism industry, were the first places closed by the New York government as the coronavirus began to ravage the state. Word of the abrupt shuttering came during a Phantom matinee at the Majestic Theater on March 12, 2020, as some cast and crew themselves were falling sick.

Now, after an unprecedented shutdown, the theaters are among the last workplaces to reopen. Their return this fall is viewed as a test of the city’s efforts to restore some new sense of normalcy.

Reuters watched as the Phantom company prepared for its return. The pandemic left unmistakable marks.

Within a few weeks of the show going dark, COVID-19 had claimed the life of a beloved dresser, Jennifer Arnold, who had been with the show for more than three decades.

After protests filled US streets last year in outrage at the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer, newly unemployed Broadway workers pushed the industry to make overdue changes to increase racial diversity in theater companies.

In August, Phantom producers announced they had cast the first-ever Black actor to play Christine since the show opened on Broadway in 1988. The actor, Emilie Kouatchou, would make her Broadway debut as an alternate for Ms. Picerno.

For the returning cast, there were tweaks to lyrics and staging to learn, making it more straightforward to cast non-white actors in principal roles. The entire company was required to be vaccinated and twice a week went to get their noses swabbed at a nearby theater lobby repurposed as a temporary coronavirus testing site.

Ms. Picerno said she was happy to embrace whatever was needed to get back on stage.

In the dark days of 2020, living back in North Carolina with her parents and claiming unemployment benefits, she said she “almost felt like a failure.” She sang her part every day to keep it fresh in her mind until the singing made her too sad and she stopped.

Emotion again overcame her on the first day reunited with her castmates in late September. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber had swung by the studio to deliver a pep talk to the cast before they sang through the familiar score.

Ms. Picerno’s singing dissolved in tears during the love duet “All I Ask of You.”

“Sing along! Help her!” the conductor urged the masked chorus, whose voices carried Ms. Picerno until she regained her composure.

‘THINK OF ME’
A few days later, the cast practiced dance steps in a mix of street clothes and the bulkier parts of their 19th-century-style costumes.

Ms. Picerno drew a scarf through her fingers as she danced and sang “Think of Me” in her bell-like soprano. Off in a corner of the studio, Ms. Kouatchou silently mirrored Ms. Picerno’s every move.

Ms. Kouatchou, the daughter of immigrants from Cameroon, grew up in the Chicago suburbs. Phantom was the first Broadway show she ever saw, on a trip to New York with her high school. She remembers being transfixed by Christine.

“I could sing that role in my sleep,” she recalled thinking.

Still, she worried about stereotyping, that some would see a mismatch in her voice, an operatic soprano, and her appearance, which was not the sort of “petite white girl” who seemed to always get cast as a show’s ingénue or heroine.

“I didn’t feel like I had a place in musical theater because I didn’t see anyone who looked like me who sung like me,” she said.

COVID-19 had both upended live theater and made space for progress.

“The pandemic was terrible,” Ms. Kouatchou said. “But we wouldn’t be able to have conversations like this and change things like this if it hadn’t been for the pandemic.”

Now, as the Phantom begins making his terrifying presence known in Act One, a frightened ballet dancer turns to the heroine and sings: “Christine, are you alright?”

Before the pandemic and Ms. Kouatchou’s casting, the lyric had always been: “Your face, Christine, it’s white!”

The old, creepy Christine doll that stood in the Phantom’s lair, her features unmistakably white, also was out. A new doll, designed to be racially ambiguous, would debut on reopening night.

Later that week, Ms. Kouatchou got her first glimpse of one of the new Christine wigs designed to match her hair texture.

“It’s curlier and frizzier and I love it,” Ms. Kouatchou said.

‘THE POINT OF NO RETURN’
On the first full day of stage rehearsals at the Majestic Theater, members of the company waited to show vaccination proof in an alleyway lined with trash cans leading to the stage door.

Backstage, masked dressers who help actors quickly change costumes in the darkness of the wings were testing alternatives to the bitelights they had gripped in their teeth pre-pandemic. They experimented with little lamps strapped to their foreheads or on gloves, hoping they wouldn’t confuse audiences by shooting out beams of light across the stage mid-show.

From the orchestra seats, John Riddle, who plays the show’s hero Raoul, marveled at one of the dazzling spotlights high up in the proscenium. Its beam used to illuminate a “constant cloud of dust,” he said.

“The fact that it’s clear now means something to me,” he said. “They say it’s the cleanest a Broadway theater has ever been.”

Even so, there was worrying news from shows nearby. The Disney musical Aladdin was forced to close for two weeks soon after its September reopening because too many actors tested positive for the coronavirus.

Maree Johnson, who plays the black-clad ballet mistress Madame Giry, said she was resigned to the likelihood that Phantom also would record breakthrough coronavirus cases.

“It’s going to happen sooner or later,” she said.

Nine days later, on Friday afternoon, Ms. Picerno was in her dressing room when she opened the e-mail with results of her final coronavirus test ahead of reopening night. Relief washed over her. It was negative.

That night, audience members dressed in evening gowns, bow ties, and the occasional Phantom-style costume crowded the theater doors, fishing out proofs of vaccination.

“Welcome back to Broadway!” chirped the newly hired COVID safety monitors who waved large signs saying “MASKS UP” at the audience inside.

Backstage at the top of a staircase, a few members of the company had placed a vase of flowers and a photograph of Arnold, the dresser lost to COVID-19. Some of the cast and crew paused by the memorial before resuming the final minutes’ rush in nearby dressing rooms.

The house lights dimmed, and the familiar descending chromatic chords of the Phantom theme surged from the orchestra pit. Picerno danced across the stage as Ms. Kouatchou watched from the audience, sometimes mimicking her hand gestures. The new Christine doll lurked in the Phantom’s lair, her face now silver.

At the final curtain call, the audience roared with delight. Ms. Picerno ran to the front of the stage to take her bow, her face crumpled and shining with tears. — Reuters

DoH launches public health information website

HEALTHY PILIPINAS WEBSITE

THE Department of Health (DoH) launched on Monday Healthy Pilipinas, a website that fights the spread of mis- and disinformation by providing accurate and easy-to-understand health information to the general public.  

“Our job is to make sure that Filipinos have enough information about health,” said Beverly Lorraine C. Ho, director of the DoH’s Health Promotion Bureau. “We’re launching the website to provide accurate information, especially now when misinformation is rampant online.”  

The website contains a list of various diseases, their symptoms and treatments, and healthy habits that can combat them. It also has updates on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its vaccines.  

In contrast to the DoH’s main website — which, based on public feedback, is “too serious and scientific” — Healthy Pilipinas provides health information in plain language.   

“The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the desire of our people to get more information about this health threat,” said Teodoro B. Padilla, executive director of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). “Thanks to the technology that we have today, people are able to receive and retrieve information and be part of the discourse at an unprecedented time.”  

Aside from PHAP, Healthy Pilipinas is supported by the United States Agency for International Development and the rest of the public health community, which includes specialty societies, medical institutions, and civil society organizations.  

DoH is calling for more of these groups to contribute information on diseases, symptoms, treatments, and medicines.  

The website also contains educational resources, tools, and playbooks on managing healthy environments, for the use of schools, workplaces, local government units, and other establishments in the various industries and sectors.   

‘INFODEMIC,’ A SERIOUS THREAT
Defined as the rapid spread of both accurate and inaccurate information, the ongoing “infodemic” is a real danger to the general public, according to Mr. Padilla.  

“While the spread of factual information can save lives, the proliferation of false and/or inaccurate information is a serious threat to people’s lives and to public health,” he said. “This is why we’ve joined DoH in its campaign to promote the use of verified medical facts to empower people to make health decisions based on accurate information.”  

Medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Gideon D. Lasco added that the campaign puts importance on two-way communication by getting feedback on what people need and understanding their health-seeking behaviors.  

“We have to be critical of the info spreading online and also listen to know what people search for,” he explained. “For example, Filipinos tend to search things they’re hesitant to talk about, like STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] and pregnancy.”  

The health experts at the launch also assured that Healthy Pilipinas will provide offline materials that mirror the contents of the website, so that health information will also reach Filipinos that have no internet access.   

In addition to English and Tagalog, the site will soon be available in Cebuano as well. — Brontë H. Lacsamana 

DFNN unit InPlay.ph reports 61% growth in gross gaming revenue

INPLAY.PH/

DFNN, Inc. subsidiary InPlay.ph reported a 60.84% growth to P64.3 million in third-quarter gross gaming revenue (GGR), higher than the previous quarter’s P40 million as the online gaming industry continues to grow.

“Online gaming is one pursuit that undoubtedly flourished as a form of entertainment and InPlay.ph has definitely captured a respectable share of this market since launching in November 2020,” DFNN said in a disclosure to the exchange on Tuesday.

DFNN said InPlay.ph’s revenue “has consistently shown an upward trajectory” since launching.

For the nine-month period ending September, the company’s consolidated GGR totaled P269.3 million.

Meanwhile, InPlay.ph also saw its gross bets surge by 64.56% to P1.43 billion in the third quarter, up from the second quarter’s P1.43 billion. Gross bets for the nine-month period stood at P6 billion, DFNN said.

DFNN noted that InPlay.ph’s performance is expected to “surpass that of the traditional gaming outlets, which [have] suffered due to the lockdowns imposed because of the pandemic.”

“However, as lockdown measures ease and more gaming outlets reopen, it is projected that revenue from these outlets will start to improve and thus consolidated revenue figures at yearend are seen to be on the positive for the first time since March 2020,” DFNN said.

Shares of DFNN at the stock exchange went down by 2.97% or 10 centavos on Tuesday, closing at P3.27 each. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

BSP’s policy stance appropriate — AMRO

BW FILE PHOTO
THE BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas has kept rates at record lows since November 2020. — BW FILE PHOTO

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to keep an accommodative stance to help boost credit growth while banks and borrowers remain cautious, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said.

Dr. Zhiwen Jiao, AMRO’s country economist for the Philippines, noted that credit growth has remained muted despite ample liquidity in the financial system, showing more needs to be done to encourage lending.

“The most recent survey on the issue shows that lending standards remain tight, so policy measures that temper the banks’ aversion to risk should help boost credit growth and support economic recovery,” Dr. Jiao said.

The latest Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey showed majority of banks kept their overall loan standards, with net tightening of lending rules seen for both businesses and retail borrowers in the third quarter.

Bank lending in August increased 1.3%, ending eight consecutive months of decline.

The BSP has released some P2.2 trillion in liquidity through the financial system through various policy measures, which is equivalent to about 12.1% of gross domestic product.

Central bank officials have stressed the need to keep monetary policy supportive of growth to boost recovery efforts while demand remains muted.

“This stance is appropriate, given the country’s still large output gap and notwithstanding the high headline inflation which will likely decline to within the government target inflation range,” Dr. Jiao said, noting they expect inflation to go back to within the central bank’s 2-4% target by 2022.

Inflation stood at 4.8% in September, easing from 4.9% in August.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has said rates will likely stay unchanged until the end of the year as they want to continue supporting the economy, even as other central banks have started tightening due to higher inflation.

The Monetary Board in September kept benchmark rates at record lows, even as it raised its inflation forecast. Two more policy-setting meetings are left this year, which are scheduled on Nov. 18 and Dec. 16. — L.W.T. Noble