The task force handling the pandemic response has adopted a resolution exempting fully vaccinated seniors in areas under general and strict lockdowns from the stay-at-home rules, according to the presidential palace. 

The taskforce “allowed the movement of fully vaccinated senior citizens in areas under General Community Quarantine and Modified General Community Quarantine, subject to presentation of a duly issued COVID-19 vaccination card,” presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said on Friday. 

Seniors are still limited to travelling within their zone as interzonal travel is still prohibited, except for point-to-point travel, Mr. Roque said. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, only persons aged 15 to 65 years had been allowed outdoors. 

Government data showed that 415,540 seniors have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of June 8.  

Meanwhile, the Palace official said the task force also allowed gyms, fitness studios, skating rinks, and racket sports courts in the National Capital Region Plus to resume operations at 30% of the venue’s capacity. 

Mr. Roque said historical sites as well as museums are now allowed to operate at 20% of the venue’s capacity. 

However, guided tours in historical sites and museums shall remain prohibited, he added. 

With the reopening of the fitness industry, about 22,000 displaced workers in the fitness industry would be able to regain their jobs, Trade Chief Ramon M. Lopez said at a televised news briefing. 

Mr. Lopez said about 2,000 gyms in the capital region and nearby provinces have yet to secure a safety seal certification, which is issued by the Trade department.  

Authorities are set to announce this week the new quarantine classifications for the second half of the month. — Kyle Aristophere Atienza 

The Department of Health reported 6,686 new coronavirus infections nationwide on Friday, bringing the total number of cases since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year to 1,300,349. 

The death toll rose by 196 to 22,507, while recoveries increased by 3,190 to 1,216,497, it said in a bulletin. 

There were 61,345 active cases, 91.6% of which were mild, 4.3% did not show symptoms, 1.15% were moderate, 1.7% were severe, and 1.2% were critical. 

The agency said 24 duplicates had been removed from the tally. Of these, 20 recovered.  

It said that 127 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths. About 1,000 cases previously classified as recoveries were re-tagged as active cases, it added. 

Three labs failed to submit data.  

About 13.9 million Filipinos have been tested for the coronavirus as of June 9, according to the health department’s tracker website. 

Meanwhile, a group of researchers said the number of coronavirus infections in Metro Manila went down by 17% from June 4 to 10. 

Infections in the capital region decreased to 926 daily in the last seven days from the 1,116 recorded from the previous week, OCTA said in its latest report. 

OCTA said the reproduction number in the region over the same week was 0.72, while the average daily attack rate was at 6.7, suggesting that the risk level in the key economic hub is “moderate.” The reproduction rate or R0 is a measure of a virus’ transmission, or the number of new infections generated by each case. 

OCTA said the positivity rate in the region decreased to 8%, while the hospital care use rate went down to 36%. The occupancy rate for intensive care unit beds was at 49%. 

The government had placed Metro Manila and nearby provinces under strict lockdowns from March to mid-May due to a surge in coronavirus infections. The restrictions have since been eased. 

Philippine authorities earlier said the southern and central parts of the Philippines were experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections. 

OCTA said the rise in infections in Mindanao slowed down in the last seven days.  

It said Davao City had a slight decrease in cases. It added that the Mindanao metropolis’ hospital bed occupancy was below 60%, a safe level. 

OCTA said the trends in Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga City continued to move downward, “but Cagayan de Oro continued to have high hospital occupancy rates.” 

Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo City, Dumaguete, Butuan, Tuguegarao, Cotabato City, and Tacloban are still “areas of concern,” it said. — Kyle Aristophere Atienza 

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced the end of the polio outbreak in the Philippines, almost two years after the debilitating disease reemerged in the Southeast Asian country. 

“We are formally celebrating the end of the polio outbreak that has affected the Philippines for more than 600 days,” WHO representative to Manila Rabindra Abeyasinghe said at a televised news briefing organized by the Department of Health. 

The end of the polio outbreak proves that collective efforts can strengthen public health amid the coronavirus pandemic, he said. 

Mr. Abeyasinghe said this latest milestone in public health proves that vaccines work. 

In an e-mailed statement, Mr. Abeyasighe said the decision to proclaim the country polio-free came “as the virus has not been detected in a child or in the environment” in the past 16 months. This a result of comprehensive outbreak response actions including intensified immunization and surveillance activities in affected areas, he added. 

Children under the age of five are most vulnerable to polio, a highly infectious and sometimes fatal disease that can be avoided with a vaccine, according to the WHO.  

Philippine health authorities announced a polio outbreak in September 2019, after almost two decades of being polio-free. 

The WHO said the disease remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

“The success of the polio immunization in the Philippines is proof that when we come together for children, great things happen,” UNICEF representative to the Philippines Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov said in an e-mailed statement. 

Mr. Dendevnorov urged the Philippine government to “keep the momentum and accelerate routine immunization and safeguard essential child health services” while rolling out coronavirus vaccines for priority sectors. — Kyle Aristophere Atienza 

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday ruled out the possibility of implementing mail-in voting for the upcoming polls.  

Online voting will not be a viable option for the 2022 polls and will only happen “in the future elections,” Philip Luis Marin, a member of the Comelec Office for Overseas Voting, said at a virtual briefing on Friday. 

The poll body earlier asked the Congress to file a bill that would institutionalize mail-in voting as an alternative way of voting amid the pandemic. Seniors and people with disabilities should be allowed to vote by mail, it said.  

A progressive bloc in the House of Representatives last year filed a measure seeking to create a manual-automation election system in the country to avoid transparency issues. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Martin said about 1.6 million Filipinos abroad have yet to register for the 2022 elections. 

He said the poll body is expecting more than 580,000 overseas voters to participate in next year’s polls.  

The Comelec official said only 31.30% of the 1.37 million Filipinos abroad participated in the 2016 elections, while 18.46% of the 1.82 million registered overseas voters voted in the 2019 midterm elections. 

Mr. Marin said Filipinos at least 18 years old who are abroad or who will be abroad during the 30-day overseas voting period from April 10 to May 9, 2022 may register to participate in the elections. — Kyle Aristophere Atienza