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Vulnerable

National Basketball Association habitués who believe the Lakers to be on track for a successful title defense might want to rethink their position. Not that the stalwarts of the purple and gold aren’t capable of taking the measure of the rest of the league. To the contrary, their roster makeup — shored up during the shortest offseason in the history of pro hoops — appears even better equipped to contend for the hardware the second time around. Unfortunately, their showing of late has been inconsistent at best; in proving unable to continually translate potential to practice, they have looked not just vulnerable, but vulnerable against supposed also-rans.

To be sure, the Lakers remain in the NBA’s upper echelon; their travails notwithstanding, they’re just one game off the top spot in the Western Conference. And, yes, they still have nearly three-quarters of the season to right the ship, not to mention allow vital cogs Anthony Davis and Alex Caruso to recover from injury. On the other hand, they’ve become alarmingly unstable, and from the get-go; extremely slow starts have compelled them to play catch-up ball against supposedly inferior opposition. Yesterday, for instance, they barely overcame an otherwise-slumping Thunder following an uphill climb that left them gassed in the end.

Consider this: Not since November 1991 have the Lakers been involved in three straight matches that required overtime to settle. And, in each of the contests, they had to rely on the heroics of Most Valuable Player candidate LeBron James to get them over the hump. Heading into the 2020-21 season, their depth was supposed to allow him to rest for significant stretches and preserve his 36-year-old body for the playoffs. Instead, his minutes have trended in the wrong direction in the face of their struggles. They simply had no choice but to play him 46, 43, and 41 minutes.

James has put on a brave face in his post-mortems. He says he doesn’t get tired, and, for the most part, he has delivered in the clutch. There’s also a reason he hasn’t sat out a single outing so far; he’s gunning for a fifth MVP award to underscore a point. On the other hand, Father Time is undefeated, and, for all his protestations, he’s not invincible. And if he’s exerting effort just to lead the Lakers to victory in Regular Season Game Number 26 of 72, there’s a problem that needs to be addressed, and fast. Else, he may find himself meeting one objective at the expense of another.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Do you want to be resuscitated? This is what you should think about before deciding

Every day, in every hospital, doctors and nurses respond to “code blue” situations. This is an emergency alert for when a patient’s heart stops beating, called a cardiac arrest.

To save the patient’s life, medical and nursing staff will often administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CPR involves repeated chest compressions, artificial breathing, use of medications and an electric shock to jump-start the heart (defibrillation).

The aim is to restore a person’s heartbeat and blood pressure to normal, and in turn to restore life. CPR must be initiated quickly as brain cells rapidly die without blood and oxygen.

Patients admitted to hospital are often surprised when their doctors ask: “If your heart were to stop beating, would you want CPR or not?” But in every code blue doctors need answers to the same two questions. First, whether the clinical team considers CPR would be an effective treatment; and second, whether the patient wants CPR.

If a person has a cardiac arrest outside hospital, it is usual, and expected, that bystanders begin CPR, use a defibrillator if available, and call an ambulance.

CPR is taught in first aid courses and defibrillators are widely available in public places such as airports and sports grounds. Time is of the essence, so having trained community members is important.

In a hospital setting, though, the decision to administer CPR is more nuanced. It’s built on a discussion around the patient’s medical condition and, importantly, takes into account their wishes.

Clinicians in Australia have provided examples of some different perspectives on this discussion:

Some of [the patients’ relatives] are absolutely aghast that we might even suggest not to resuscitate […] they bring their loved one into hospital to get better.

A lot of people […] just say, ‘No, I’ve had a good innings, just let me die.’ […] Often I find it’s families who have the objection.

CPR was developed and initially applied to resuscitate people with specific medical conditions such as an acute myocardial infarction (a heart attack).

When a cardiac arrest occurs because of a heart attack or other heart condition, there’s a reasonable chance CPR will re-start the heart and save the person’s life. A recent Australian study looking at people who had a cardiac arrest in hospital showed 41.5% of people who were admitted due to heart problems survived with good neurological function.

Expanding the use of CPR more broadly to every disease that causes the heart to stop beating seems like common sense. But this is not necessarily the case.

For older hospitalised patients (aged over 67 years in this research) with chronic diseases — such as heart failure, kidney disease, cancer or diabetes — their chance of surviving a cardiac arrest and leaving the hospital alive is around 11-15%. Chances of survival are slightly better in older patients without a chronic illness (17%).

For patients in the late stage of their life, due to advanced illness or severe frailty, their chance of survival is almost zero.

CPR is not always an appropriate treatment. The decision to perform it needs to be made carefully, especially when it’s highly unlikely to restore a patient’s heartbeat.

Unlike the popular media portrayal of CPR, not every survivor of cardiac arrest returns to their previous level of functioning.

Patients may survive but with some brain damage. This could range from minor damage with trivial functional effects such as being forgetful; to moderate damage with serious functional effects such as a change in personality and needing help with everyday activities; to severe damage with catastrophic functional impairment eventually leading to death.

CPR may revive a heart that has stopped beating, but it doesn’t always restore a person back to a life they had or want. It may also do harm by reviving a person who does not want to continue living and would have preferred their disease to follow its natural course. When CPR is performed on a patient who doesn’t want it, it disrupts a gentler dying process, transforming it into an impersonal medical event.

When a cardiac arrest happens, there’s no opportunity to ask the patient what they want at that time. In hospital, it’s routine to provide CPR for patients in cardiac arrest unless there is a medical order to withhold it, or if the patient has completed an advance care directive refusing CPR. This is often referred to as a “do not rescusitate” order.

Avoiding harm from inappropriate or unwanted CPR requires planning ahead and being prepared to have a difficult conversation.

We have launched an animated film, The Inappropriate Question, to help people better understand why these conversations are important.

Discussing CPR is upsetting for some patients, because raising the possibility of death is confronting. It’s also harder to discuss this when a person has just been admitted to hospital for treatment and is expecting to recover.

But patients have the right, and usually want, to be involved in their own treatment decisions. The challenge is how we reconcile this wanting to know and wanting to be involved in decisions, with not wanting to be upset by knowing.

CPR is an important treatment. When used appropriately, it saves lives. But when applied injudiciously it can cause distress and avoidable harm.

Advance care planning is one way to start thinking about this long before a person is seriously ill. Particularly if you’re older and have chronic medical conditions, have that discussion with yourself, your loved ones and your medical team.

Philippines to get China-donated vaccines this month for troops, medical staff

MANILA – The Philippines is set to receive 600,000 doses this month of Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine donated by China, a portion of which will be used to inoculate military personnel, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque told a regular news conference the Feb. 23 arrival of the vaccines is certain, but they would not be administered without the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

So far, only shots developed by AstraZeneca and the vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech have been approved for emergency use in the country.

Roque said regulators have allowed “compassionate use” of 10,000 doses of a vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm for President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail.

Roque said 100,000 of the 600,000 Sinovac doses will be given to soldiers and the rest for medical workers.

The Philippines aims to start its mass vaccination programme using 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine secured through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing facility, which are also due to be delivered this month.

The Philippines has negotiated supply agreements with Moderna, Gamaleya, Janssen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Novavax for 148 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, the bulk of which are is expected to arrive in the second and third quarters of this year.

It is aiming this year to inoculate 70 million adults, or two-thirds of the country’s 108 million people, to achieve herd immunity.

The Philippines has recorded 541,000 infections, including 11,400 deaths. — Reuters 

Tech startup Teko rolls out appliance after-sales system 

By Patricia Mirasol

Teko Solutions Asia Inc. recently announced the nationwide integration of its appliance after-sales service system, Complete Order Management System (COMS), with all the leading brands of Concepcion Industrial Corp. (CIC), an air conditioning, appliance, and industrial solution provider. Among the said brands are Carrier, Condura, Midea, Toshiba, and Kelvinator.

CIC is the first major client of the after-sales service system. 

“Our customers are the core of our business and this inspires us to continuously improve ways of serving them. With COMS, we aim to provide our customers and partners a seamless overall experience,” said Raul Joseph A. Concepcion, CIC’s chairman & CEO, in a press statement. 

COMS is an end-to-end, white label, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that digitizes the entire after-sales service process. It connects the after-sales teams of appliance and electronics manufacturers with customers, service providers, and business partners in a single cloud platform.

With COMS, CIC’s after-sales organizations gain more efficiency, access to real-time service data, and synchronized collaborations with all its partners at a significantly lower technology cost than legacy (or old) systems.

“This is not a broad solution; it was specifically designed for the after-sales of the appliance and electronics industry,” said Teko in an interview with BusinessWorld. “It connects all the aftersales partners within the field (service centers, technicians, dealers, call centers) on a single cloud platform, with all the necessary features in a cost-effective manner.”

Teko is a technology startup launched in September 2017 that helps connect households and businesses with professional appliance service technicians. Teko also powers the after-sales systems of appliance manufacturers, distributors, and extended warranty providers. 

The startup’s other solutions apart from COMS are Teko.ph, a platform for households and businesses to place service request orders, and Teko Pro, a service for extended warranty providers and new market entrants in need of a pool of professional technicians and back-office operations.

House won’t tackle ABS-CBN franchise, Speaker says

Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN Corp.’s franchise application will have to wait until the next Congress to be elected in 2022, Philippine House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said.

The House of Representatives will prioritize economic bills including a proposal for another pandemic relief measure, Velasco said in a statement.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 8 said he won’t allow ABS-CBN to operate a free-to-air television channel even if it secures a new franchise from Congress. — Bloomberg

Dollar struggles for traction after soft U.S. inflation

SINGAPORE – The dollar was pinned near two-week lows on Thursday, as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation and another Federal Reserve promise to keep interest rates low reinforced expectations of meagre returns from the reserve currency.

The Australian dollar sat just below a two-week top touched overnight, while the euro held at $1.2116, near its highest since Feb. 1. Sterling, also boosted by receding expectations for negative interest rates in Britain, sat just shy of Wednesday’s nearly three-year peak of $1.3865.

Morning moves were slight and Asia trade was thinned by Lunar New Year holidays in Japan and China. Against a basket of currencies the dollar sat at 90.428 after touching a two-week trough of 90.249 in the wake of U.S. inflation figures.

U.S. core inflation last month was zero, data showed on Wednesday, against market expectations of 0.2%.

In a speech, Fed Chair Jerome Powell focused on still-high unemployment and re-iterated that the central bank’s new policy framework could accommodate annual inflation above 2% for some time before hiking rates.

“In other words, easy policy is going to stay there for a long, long time, and that should be negative for the U.S. dollar,” said Westpac currency analyst Imre Speizer.

“I think it’ll be something that sits in the background, as just a reminder that the U.S. dollar can’t go up while it’s got that easy policy relative to everybody else.”

The dollar had pared some of its losses against other majors a little bit after a selloff in U.S. tech stocks dampened financial markets’ upbeat mood. The safe-haven Japanese yen hit a two-week peak of 104.41 per dollar overnight and last traded a fraction softer at 104.62 per dollar.

Bitcoin, sometimes viewed as a hedge against inflation, has dropped about 8% from Tuesday’s record high and traded at $44,277 on Thursday.

Inflation is under the spotlight as economists expect pent-up demand and a low-base effect from last year’s shocks to drive jumps in headline figures by the spring time, which some investors think could test the Fed’s resolve.

In New Zealand, for example, where the virus is well contained, surging accommodation prices have inflation running above expectations and investors have scaled back what had been further rate cut expectations.

“The RBNZ arguably face quite a different communication challenge (to the Fed), with the demand pulse in New Zealand in a much better position than anyone dared hope,” ANZ Bank analysts wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.

“The RBNZ will welcome this, but continue to highlight the need for cautious patience.”

The New Zealand dollar was broadly steady at $0.7205 on Thursday.

Later on Thursday, European Commission economic forecasts are due, as are U.S. labour market figures, with investors looking to the data to gauge the relative progress in recovery. – Reuters

Taiwan, U.S. hold first Washington meeting under new administration

TAIPEI – Taiwan and the United States have held their first publicly acknowledged formal meeting in Washington under the new Biden administration, with the island’s de facto ambassador to the country calling on a senior State Department official.

President Joe Biden’s government, which took office on Jan. 20, has moved to reassure Chinese-claimed Taiwan that its commitment to them is “rock solid”, especially after China stepped up its military activity near the island shortly after Biden’s inauguration.

Taiwan’s defacto ambassador in Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, said she had met Sung Kim, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, on Wednesday.

“I had a good meeting with USAsiaPacific Acting Assistant Secretary Kim and his able team today, where we covered many issues of mutual interest, reflecting our strong and broad partnership,” she wrote on her Twitter account.

The State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs tweeted a picture of Hsiao and Kim meeting standing side by side, both wearing face masks.

“The U.S. is deepening ties with Taiwan, a leading democracy and important economic and security partner,” it said on its Twitter account.

Hsiao last month attended Biden’s swearing in, the first time an inauguration committee had formally invited the island’s Washington representative, in what was viewed in Taipei as a good sign for future strong relations.

China regularly describes Taiwan as the most important and sensitive issue in it relationship with the United States, and was infuriated by stepped up contacts between the two and increased arms sales under former-President Donald Trump’s administration. – Reuters

Singapore Airlines begins flights with fully vaccinated crew

SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines (SIA) began operating flights on Thursday with full sets of crew members vaccinated against COVID-19 as the city-state seeks to rejuvenate its status as an international travel hub.

The airline said pilots and cabin crew on three international flights from Singapore had received both of the required doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The Singapore government has urged workers at the national airline to sign up for its inoculation program in a bid to make SIA the world’s first carrier with all staff vaccinated against COVID-19.

Singapore Airlines said Thursday’s three flights with a fully vaccinated crew – to Jakarta, Bangkok and Phnom Penh – were among the first in the world.

The carrier said more than 90% of its cabin crew and pilots have signed up for the vaccine. Around 85% of those have received at least the first dose, and many have begun getting the second dose, it added. SIA expects all those who have signed up to receive the second dose by the end of March.

Singapore, a major international trade and travel hub, lacks a domestic travel market and international travel is expected to take until 2024 to rebound to 2019 levels, according to industry estimates.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said on Wednesday that its flights were only being operated by pilots and cabin crew who had been vaccinated, which a spokeswoman later said meant they had received at least one dose. — Reuters

Suu Kyi aide among new wave of arrests in Myanmar as Biden approves sanctions

A close aide to ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in a new wave of arrests following last week’s military coup, a party official said on Thursday, as Washington moved a step closer to imposing sanctions on the junta.

The aide, Kyaw Tint Swe, had served as minister for the office of the state counsellor under Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the Feb. 1 coup.

Kyi Toe, an information committee member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), said Kyaw Tint Swe and four other people linked to the previous government had been taken from their homes overnight.

He said officials of the electoral commission had also been arrested overnight, including some down to township level, but he did not immediately have an exact number of those arrested.

The military launched the coup after what it said was widespread fraud in November elections, won by the NLD in a landslide. The electoral commission had rejected those claims.

Myanmar authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to confirm the arrests independently. Scores of officials have been detained since the coup.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved an executive order for new sanctions on those responsible for the coup, and repeated demands for the generals to give up power and free civilian leaders.

Biden said the order enabled his administration “to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members.”

Washington would identify the first round of targets this week and was taking steps to prevent the generals in Myanmar, also known as Burma, having access to $1 billion in Myanmar government funds held in the United States.

“We’re also going to impose strong exports controls. We’re freezing U.S. assets that benefit the Burmese government, while maintaining our support for health care, civil society groups, and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly,” Biden said at the White House.

The Feb. 1 coup and detention of Suu Kyi presents Biden with his first major international crisis, and a test of his dual pledges to re-center human rights in foreign policy and work more closely with allies.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington was rolling out collective actions with partners on Myanmar.

“We can impose substantial costs ourselves. We can impose costs that are even steeper … by working with our like-minded partners and allies,” he told a briefing.

 

ASIAN INFLUENCE

Even so, analysts say Myanmar’s new junta will not be as isolated as previous iterations, with China, India, Southeast Asian neighbors and Japan unlikely to cut ties given the country’s strategic importance.

Derek Mitchell, a former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, said it was vital to get nations such as Japan, India and Singapore involved in a strong response.

“The key will not be just what America does,” he said. “It’s going to be how we get others along with us, allies who may have more skin in the game, more leverage, or at least better relationships with the key players.”

The United Nations’ top human rights body is to consider a resolution on Friday drafted by Britain and the European Union condemning the coup and demanding urgent access for monitors.

However, diplomats said China and Russia – which both have ties to Myanmar’s armed forces – are expected to raise objections or try to weaken the text. The UN Security Council issued a statement last week calling for Suu Kyi’s release but stopping short of condemning the coup.

 

FESTIVE PROTESTS

Protests spilled into a sixth straight day on Thursday.

Hundreds of workers lined a road in the capital Naypyitaw in support of the Civil Disobedience Movement, chanting anti-junta slogans and carrying placards that read “reject military coup” and “save Myanmar”. Some held up pictures of Suu Kyi with the words “we trust our leader”.

After a woman was shot in violent clashes on Tuesday, protests on Wednesday took on a festive air, with bare-chested body builders, women in ball gowns and wedding dresses, farmers on tractors and people with their pets.

The protests have revived memories of almost half a century of direct army rule, punctuated with bloody army crackdowns, until the military began relinquishing some power in 2011.

Washington’s sanctions are likely to target coup leader Min Aung Hlaing and other top generals who are already under U.S. sanctions imposed in 2019 over abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities.

It could also target military holding companies with investments spanning sectors including banking, gems, copper, telecoms and clothing.

Suu Kyi, 75, won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy and remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the plight of the Rohingyas.

She has spent nearly 15 years under house arrest and now faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies. Her lawyer says he has not been allowed to see her. – Reuters

Are vaccines already helping contain COVID? Early signs say yes, but mutations will be challenging

More than 130 million COVID vaccine doses have been administered worldwide already, according to the University of Oxford’s “Our World in Data” vaccination tracker.

Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and China are leading this huge global effort.

COVID vaccines were initially tested and approved on their ability to reduce the severity of the disease.

However, the long-term goal of vaccination is to decrease infection rates and eliminate the virus.

Excitingly, early signs suggest vaccines are already helping drive down infection rates in some countries, including Israel and the UK.

In saying that, it’s early days, and some preliminary data suggest countries might have to update their vaccine strategies to deal with emerging variants of the virus.

The US (43 million doses), China (40 million) and the UK (13 million) have administered the most doses in total.

However, these numbers don’t take into account population size, so looking at the number of doses injected per 100 people is more meaningful.

Here, the league table is currently topped by Israel, with around 67 vaccination doses administered per 100 people.

Almost 25% of the population are fully vaccinated with both doses. And all this in just five weeks.

Israel aims to vaccinate everyone over the age of 16 and reach at least 80% of its nine million people by May this year.

Reaching at least 70% of the population via vaccination (and/or natural infection) is needed for herd immunity for COVID, according to initial modelling by University of Chicago researchers in May last year.

However, given more infectious variants of the virus have emerged, we may need to vaccinate an even higher proportion of the population to reach herd immunity.

So far, Israel is solely using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Interim reports from the country suggest the vaccine rollout is linked to a fall in infections in people over 60 years old.

It can be tricky to separate the effects of public health measures such as lockdowns versus the effects of vaccination.

But because the fall is most pronounced in older people who were first in line to receive the vaccine, data suggest this is also partly due to the vaccine, and not just the country’s current restrictions. A team of Israeli researchers found larger falls in infections and hospitalisations after the vaccinations than occurred during previous lockdowns.

Only 0.07% of the 750,000 over-60s vaccinated tested positive for COVID, according to Israeli Ministry of Health data released last week. And only 38 people, or 0.005%, fell ill and required hospitalisation. The chance of testing positive for COVID two weeks after receiving the first dose was 33% lower than in those not vaccinated.

The UK has administered 19.4 doses per 100 people. Around 13.2 million people (or one in five adults) have received the first dose, and 0.5 million have received the second dose.

It’s currently using both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines in its rollout.

The infection rate appears to be decreasing substantially. The current daily infection growth rate is falling by between 2-5%, and the R number is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1 (an R number of less than 1 means daily new cases will decrease over time).

However, it’s difficult to determine whether these numbers are due to the lockdown or vaccinations. It’s too early to tell whether vaccines are slowing transmission, but the signs are encouraging.

According to data from the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine group, released as a preprint with The Lancet last week and yet to be peer reviewed, its vaccine is showing signs of reducing transmission. The shot was associated with a 67% reduction in transmission among vaccinated volunteers in clinical trials in the UK.

It’s early days, but authors of the study suggest the vaccine may have a “substantial” effect on reducing rates of transmission in the future.

In saying that, preliminary data suggest it offers minimal protection against mild or moderate illness caused by the South African variant.

There are three main problems that might hinder the success of this global vaccination drive.

1. Vaccine development, manufacturing, distribution and delivery

The world’s population over the age of five is currently estimated at seven billion people. If we need to vaccinate at least 70% of them to achieve herd immunity, we need to reach around five billion people.

This is an enormous undertaking, so vaccine production and availability are crucial. Many countries face the massive challenge of producing or securing enough vaccines to immunise all their citizens.

Generally, wealthier countries that could afford to make advanced purchase agreements with vaccine producers — or who could manufacture a vaccine domestically — have been the first to start COVID vaccinations.

Unfortunately, partial vaccination of the world’s population won’t achieve herd immunity. One modelling study suggests if high-income countries exclusively acquire the first two billion doses without regard for vaccine equity, the number of COVID deaths could double worldwide.

2. Administering, monitoring, and reporting adverse effects

Vaccinating a large number of citizens quickly can’t be done with existing health institutions alone.

It’s urgent we enable alternative sites such as halls and sporting venues to be used as mass vaccination sites. We also need to allow a range of health professions such as medical students, public health officials and pharmacists to administer doses to help speed up the process.

And once vaccines have been administered, it’s crucial we monitor efficacy and report on any adverse effects, which will require additional resources.

3. Vaccine effectiveness and virus mutation

The effectiveness of vaccines can be hindered by mutations of the virus. COVID variants originating in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK have triggered huge concern worldwide.

There’s early evidence some of our current crop of COVID vaccines respond less effectively to certain variants, though most of these data are preliminary and are still emerging.

If vaccines become less effective, new vaccines will need to be developed either including a booster dose incorporating the region of the mutated virus, or reformulating existing vaccines to include the mutated strains.

This, however, isn’t uncommon — flu vaccines are required to be updated regularly in order to increase protective capacity against new mutated strains. – Reuters

PH 10th in APEC countries on Median 5G Download Speed: Ookla® data

The Philippines ranks 10th among APEC countries with median download speed on 5G at 182.50 Mbps based on Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® Q3 2020 data[1]. Median 5G download speed is the aggregate speed measured in the 50th percentile of all tests taken with Speedtests on a 5G connection.

This is a huge feat for an emerging market economy aiming to have a #1stWorldNetwork infrastructure. Globe has been a steady supporter of the government’s initiative to improve the country’s state of connectivity.  The telco has led the industry in new site builds last year and strengthened its network with extensive 4G LTE and 5G upgrades. These sustained and vigorous efforts have resulted in improved internet speeds and higher Consistency Scores as confirmed by various independent analytics firms.

According to OoklaSpeedtest Intelligence, the worldwide median download speed over 5G was 954% faster than 4G in Q3 2020. In Q3 2020 alone, there were 4,324,788 Speedtest results over 5G[2].

The telco was the first mobile operator in Southeast Asia to commercially launch 5G for home back in 2019, and 5G for mobile in 2020. Globe has the widest 5G coverage in the country today, covering 80% of Metro Manila.

“Ranking among APEC countries is a huge feat and shows that our investments and network improvements are bearing fruit.  We will continue to make 4G and 5G as pervasive as possible to meet the demand of our customers for better connectivity,” shares Ernest Cu, Globe’s President, and Chief Executive Officer.

Globe is leading the country’s digital transformation by introducing innovative solutions in the areas of financial technology, telemedicine, e-commerce, digital advertising, cybersecurity, enterprise cloud applications, customer service, and even technology for social good.

Globe strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 9 which highlights the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. Globe is committed to upholding the 10 United Nations Global Compact principles and 10 UN SDGs.

PHL lags in global export recovery

THE recovery in global trade is expected to slow down in the first quarter as uncertainty over the pandemic remains. — PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

PHILIPPINE EXPORT performance remains below East Asian economies that are leading global trade recovery, a United Nations (UN) report said.

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) global trade update released on Tuesday, East Asian economies have been leading global trade’s recovery from the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Economies like China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Korea posted global market share gains in exports.

Philippine export performance lags in East Asia and the Pacific

“East Asian economies have been leading the recovery process with strong export growth and gains in global market share,” UNCTAD said, noting most manufacturing sectors rebounded in the fourth quarter, apart from energy and transport.

The UNCTAD report showed the Philippines scored 0.41 in export performance for the 11-month period in an index in which a higher score indicates above average performance. In contrast, China scored 0.56, South Korea at 0.43, Vietnam at 0.63, and Thailand at 0.42.

The Philippine export volatility is 0.44, showing higher vulnerability than China (0.39), South Korea (0.06), Vietnam (0.39), and Thailand (0.13).

UNCTAD said the pandemic impacted not just global demand but the relative competitiveness of countries.

“The competitiveness of countries has changed across sectors, with some economies gaining market share in some sectors while losing competitiveness in others,” it said.

China was able to capture more markets, gaining competitiveness in chemicals, metals, textiles, transport equipment, pharmaceuticals, and precision instruments.

In contrast, the Philippines lost competitiveness in machineries, one of its top export sectors, which declined 7% in the first 11 months of 2020.

Philippine goods exports last year declined 10.1% to $63.77 billion.

Government export targets for this year and 2022 were revised to reflect the extent of the impact of the pandemic, aiming for $105 billion.

Q1 SLOWDOWN SEEN
Meanwhile, the recovery in global trade is expected to slow down in the first quarter as uncertainty over the pandemic remains.

“The projections for Q1 2021 indicate a slowdown in the recovery of trade in goods (a 1.5% drop relative to Q4 2020) and a further decline for trade in services (a 7% drop relative to Q4 2020), largely because of continued disruptions in the travel sector,” UNCTAD said.

“However, projections remain imprecise due to persisting concerns about COVID-19 and uncertainty about the magnitude and timing of stimulus packages in some major economies.”

In 2020, global trade saw a 9% drop in value, with trade in goods slipping 6% and trade in services falling 16.5%.

“The effect of COVID-19 on global trade was most severe during the first half of 2020 with a drop in value of about 15%. Global trade began to recover in Q3 2020 and more strongly in Q4 2020,” UNCTAD added. — J.P. Ibañez

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