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BIRDS peck at food near the Forbidden City, usually crowded with tourists before the new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, April 19, 2020. AP/ANDY WONG

Ending where it all began?

As several pharma giants in countries across the globe race for a vaccine to end the pandemic nightmare, some Chinese experts deem ‘inactive’ Covid-19 virus as best way to lick the disease.

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By Rene Acosta

HINA is currently developing six vaccines in the global race to stop the novel coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19), and three of the candidate medicines are already in the second stage of human clinical trials.

Beijing’s lead in the development of an antidote to the deadly pathogen across the globe should not come as a surprise, given that the strain was first detected in one

of its cities in December before it spun and mutated into an international health crisis.

A Filipino journalist working in China said that the country is

accelerating its development of the six vaccines, three of which—one adenovirus vector type and two inactive type—are already in Stage 2 of human clinical testing, giving hope that the disease blamed for the deaths of more than 200,000 around the world may soon be stopped in its tracks.

“As of April 29, 2020, China already has three vaccines that are on phase two of human clinical trials,” said Rhio Zablan, who had been in Beijing for the last 10 years and currently works for Filipino Service of the China Media Group (SF-CMG), which he describes as a national-level media organization in China.

Pack leader

“CHINA is the first country to have gone through phase two of human clinical trials in vaccine development,” said Zablan, who had worked for the Philippine government’s News and Information Bureau under the Office of the Press Secretary in Manila before joining the Chinese media.

Zablan’s claim of China pulling out all the stops against Covid-19 appeared to corroborate the recent brouhaha involving Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Felimon Santos Jr., whose leaked letter to the Chinese ambassador in Manila showed he had sought the intercession of the diplomat for him to

procure Carrimycin tablets for his friends afflicted by the virus.

Santos, who recovered from the disease, apparently took the medicine, a Chinese governmentregulated drug and only available in China, thus prompting him to secure it for his unidentified friends.

He claimed the letter was personal although it bears the letterhead of his office. Santos withdrew his request on learning that the medicine had not been approved for use in the Philippines by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to Zablan, the Chinese government has named the adenovirus vector vaccine as Ad5nCoV.

“The adenovirus vector vaccine, just like the Ad5-nCoV, uses chemically weakened virus so that it can send pathogen into the human body. This is a new type of vaccine that can be mass-produced, safe and can generate strong immune response,” he said.

The Ad5-nCoV was jointly developed by the CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Institute of Biotechnology of China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

On the other hand, Zablan said the two inactive vaccines have not been named yet. They were manufactured by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co. and Wuhan Continued on A2

Road from lockdown to liberty is paved with economic trade-offs

T

By Enda Curran & Claire Che Bloomberg News

HE world economy is entering a new stage of the coronavirus crisis as governments inch toward easing restrictions.

It’s a phase that entails stark trade-offs between economic growth and risking another wave of infections and death.

Some countries, like China and South Korea, are firing up their economic engines already, having contained the virus—for now at least. Others, including hard-hit Italy and the US, are preparing to reopen their wounded economies, even as they still fight to get a lid on infections.

It’s clear that the longer the lockdowns endure, the steeper the economic blow. But China’s experience demonstrates reopening won’t happen overnight—March data showed production was recov-

ering but consumers remain wary.

Meantime, Singapore presents a cautionary tale for those reopening—it’s seen a second wave that’s prompted stricter and extended restrictions, with an accompanying deeper blow to the island economy anticipated.

First movers

IN China, the lifting on April 8 of the unprecedented lockdown on Wuhan—where the virus pathogen first emerged—was a milestone. Stringent nationwide restrictions meant the world’s second-largest economy recorded its deepest contraction in decades over the first quarter.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.5890

Even now, companies and workers in the central Chinese city continue to undergo daily temperature checks and disinfection of facilities. Malls have reopened but with much fewer shoppers than the pre-virus days and suspicions remain about the true scale of the epidemic. The faster-thananticipated resumption prompted Bloomberg Economics to increase its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts for China to an expansion this year of 2 percent, up from 1.4 percent in its previous forecast, yet far below the actual growth rate of 6.1 percent in 2019.

South Korea curbed the virus without a full-fledged lockdown due to its aggressive testing and tracing efforts, which pioneered drive-in centers and phone stalls for testing. That approach has softened the economic hit even as external demand has slumped.

Bloomberg Economics projects Korea’s economy will contract 0.1 percent year on year in 2020 in their base case, and bounce back with a 3.3-percent expansion in 2021.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4744 n UK 63.1047 n HK 6.5274 n CHINA 7.1489 n SINGAPORE 35.8381 n AUSTRALIA 33.1661 n EU 55.0155 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4610

Source: BSP (April 30, 2020)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, May 3, 2020

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Road from lockdown to liberty is paved with economic trade-offs

HUNDREDS of cars wait in line for a food bank distribution at the Big Butler Fairgrounds on April 28, 2020, in Prospect, Pennsylvania. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank expected more than 1,500 vehicles to come to receive two 25-pound boxes of food each. ANDREW RUSH/PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE VIA AP Continued from A1

Next in line

GERMANY’S most stringent measures started later but finished sooner, which is setting the economy up for a faster recovery than its peers, according to Bloomberg Economics.

“Add in a large dose of fiscal support and it looks as if the euro area’s largest economy will do better than most.” Still, they expect Germany’s economy to shrink by more than 5 percent in 2020.

Planning to reopen

ITALY is mulling over on how to ease a shutdown that since its imposition early March has brought the euro area’s third-biggest economy to a near standstill. An initial reopening of businesses is planned for May 4. Bloomberg Economics’ base case has Italy’s economy contracting by 8.9 percent in the first quarter and 18.2 percent in the second quarter, while annual GDP is set to shrink 13.2 percent in 2020.

In a stark illustration of the trade-offs involved for policy-makers across the globe, a

recent study by some Italian economists found that in the Lombardy region around Milan— Italy’s economic heartland and its hardest-hit area—reopening gradually may limit additional deaths to about 5,000 over a year.

A full reopening would mean no further loss in gross domestic product, but would cost more than 40,000 lives. Keeping the lockdown in full force would drastically reduce fatalities, but risks a 26-percent drop in GDP in the next year.

In the US, the lockdown has precipitated a record-breaking economic crash that’s pressured President Donald Trump to unveil guidelines for when states can open their economies.

Some states have already eased restrictions, but it won’t be enough to jump-start the economy. Baseline projections from Bloomberg Economics show real GDP will dive from -5 percent in the first quarter toward a 37 percent contraction in the second. A second-half rebound averaging 12 percent will leave US growth deep in negative territory for the year.

A stringent lockdown in the

UK has forced a quarter of businesses to stop trading and the government is currently protecting 4 million jobs as part of a furlough program. Retail sales have matched a record slump last seen in December 2008. Assuming that the lockdown lasts until the middle of May, output will probably fall by around 5 percent in the first quarter and by 15 percent in the second, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

Second wave

SINGAPORE initially pursued less stringent restrictions but is now seeing a subsequent wave of infections. That’s forced the country to extend its version of a lockdown until June 1, including keeping schools shut, closing non-essential businesses and confining migrant workers to their dormitories, the source of a significant cluster.

As a result, Singapore’s government is bracing for a sharper economic contraction this year than an earlier forecast for a slump of as much as 4 percent.

Japan is weighing the need to extend the country’s state of

emergency, balancing a fall in new cases with fears that easing the order might fuel the outbreak, which remains small compared to the US and parts of Europe. But Japan’s economy was already in decline before the crisis.

“A relatively limited virus outbreak—allowing for milder containment measures—suggests the drop in second-quarter GDP may be less severe relative to other major advanced economies,” according to Bloomberg Economics. “Still, we see output falling 4 percent in 2020, even under our optimistic baseline scenario.”

Outliers

VIETNAM flattened its infection curve and has seen no deaths under a draconian quarantine regime that it’s now starting to ease. New Zealand, which adopted a virus elimination strategy, has eased

some restrictions after almost five weeks of strict lockdown, imposed before they’d even recorded a death.

New infections across Australia are slowing to a trickle and its states are gradually easing restrictions.

Still, the lockdown curtailed activity enough that Bloomberg Economics is tipping three consecutive quarters of declining GDP with the economy contracting by 9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019.

Never shut

AMONG developed economies, Sweden has stood out for its more relaxed approach to fighting the virus. Schools, gyms, cafes, bars and shops have stayed open. The approach hasn’t been enough to a avert a recession, though, as the government expects 2020 GDP to shrink by 4.2 percent to 10 percent in 2020, while confidence levels hit

record lows in April.

Bloomberg Economics estimates a $6-trillion hit to global growth from the virus and the lockdowns it has triggered. But that’s an optimistic scenario, and one that depends on how quickly economies can get moving again.

It remains to be seen whether reopening the global economy will reduce the economic pain, or end up worsening it.

Less restrictive virus mitigation strategies “could benefit recoveries by building herd immunity more quickly, while limiting economic damage compared to economies with longer-lasting lockdowns,” JPMorgan Chase & Co., economists led by Bruce Kasman wrote in a recent note. “Alternatively, it could significantly increase fatalities and overwhelm health care systems, resulting in greater economic damage.”

Ending where it all began?

Continued from A1

Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sinovac Research and Development Co. Ltd. “The inactivated vaccine uses inactive, or dead, version of the virus in order to generate immune response,” he said.

“This is safe since dead, or inactive, virus could not create a disease,” he added. “This way of developing a vaccine is usually used in the cases of Hepatitis A, influenza, rabies and polio diseases.”

“Based on my knowledge on the principles and ideals of China, I feel and I predict that the vaccine will come out sometime in the 4th quarter of this year,” Zablan said.

In conformity

ACCORDING to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), he added, eight institutions are involved in the manufacturing of vaccines in five technical ways and these are in the forms of inactivated vaccine; recombinant subunit vaccine; adenoviral vector vaccine; live attenuated vaccine and nucleic acid-based vaccine.

China maintains that all of its research for the Covid-19 cure conforms to its laws and regulations and with the standard international norms.

Aside from the three vaccines that are already undergoing advanced clinical trials, China is also developing three vaccines that are in the animal testing phase, and these are the live-attenuated vac-

cine, recombinant protein vaccine and nucleic acid vaccine.

“These are expected to enter clinical trials this April and May,” Zablan said.

Beijing is also undertaking 27 research projects with 152 institutions in order to develop medicines for the coronavirus.

Diversity of approach

THESE projects, Zablan said, included stem-cell therapy and convalescent plasma transfusion, which had been used and taken by more than 700 Chinese patients— and where “very good therapeutic results” were exhibited.

Some studies have claimed that the coronavirus also destroys internal organs and tissues in humans even if they survive and recuperate from the disease.

The virus had recorded hundreds of cases and deaths on a daily basis during its peak in China, especially in the hardest hit city of Wuhan and its province of Hubei, but Chinese officials claimed they have already controlled its spread.

Zablan agreed.

“Nowadays, it is a different story,” he said. “Yes, there are still few and occasional domestic, imported and asymptomatic transmissions recorded from the provinces of Guangdong and Heilongjiang, and sometimes from the city of Shanghai. That is why the Chinese government is still implementing strong and decisive control measures to make sure that there will be no second wave of infections.”

Zablan said that based on the data of the NHC, as of April 28, there have been 22 new infections in the Chinese mainland, 21 of them imported and one domestically transmitted.

The local transmission was from the province of Guangdong.

“There are now a total of 1,660 recorded imported cases, of which 1,107 had been discharged from hospital after recovery, and the remaining 553 are still being treated.

On the other hand, there are 6 asymptomatic cases recorded, which brings the total asymptomatic cases to 993. All are under medical care. There is zero fatality on this day,” Zablan said.

He said that China’s total number of infections has reached 82,858 and the total number of fatalities is 4,633.

Flattening the curve

“MAY I just emphasize that the percentage of cured patients in China is equivalent to more than 90 percent,” Zablan said.

In Wuhan, he said Chinese officials have already flattened the curve.

As of April 29, Zablan said, all hospitals in Wuhan are already cleared of Covid-19 cases. “All 16 temporary hospitals in Wuhan are closed, because all patients have been discharged and China has lifted the 76-day lockdown on virushit Wuhan.”

“Consequently, normal life is slowly returning to as it was, and this situation is true all over China,” Zablan said.

Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World BusinessMirror

China hands out vouchers to get people shopping after lockdown

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ne morning in early April, Li Fanfan, an elementary school teacher in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, set an alarm so that she could grab one of the 1 million consumption-voucher packages the local government was distributing online.

In about two and a half minutes, 50 million yuan ($7 million) worth of e-coupons were snapped up, according to local media.

Li was among the lucky ones, receiving a package of five vouchers with three different values totaling 50 yuan. She went to a shopping mall and spent about 400 yuan on top of the coupons for two meals, two shirts and some accessories.

At least 50 cities across China have distributed vouchers amounting to more than 6 billion yuan via e-payment systems, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as local governments struggle to get consumers spending again in the aftermath of the coronavirus. The requirements usually include a minimum spend and are often targeted at restaurants, supermarkets and other outlets hit hard by the outbreak.

The confidence or otherwise of China’s army of consumers is key for the nation’s chances of economic recovery this year, given the slump in global output and the ongoing contraction in export demand. But with many citizens still wary of even going outside and joblessness on the rise, it’s clear that even if online voucher programs can help stabilize consumer spending, they’re not a short-cut to a rebound.

“With households’ real disposable income declining in the face of Covid-19, vouchers can subsidize some spending on necessities, and help bolster a recovery in retail sales,” said Wei Li, senior China economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai. “It is better to have vouchers than not.”

Compared with cash, vouchers have a multiplier effect in boosting consumption due to requirements of minimum spending, and can’t easily be saved.

In some places, an immediate effect is visible. In Zhengzhou, a total of 14.3 million yuan in vouchers has been used, leading to consumer spending of 187 million yuan as of April 7. In Hangzhou, the capital of coastal Zhejiang province, coupons led to more than 1.8 billion yuan in consumption, 12 times the government’s subsidy. In the outbreak epicenter of Wuhan, that ratio was 13 times on the first day of coupon usage, according to Tencent Holdings Ltd., which helped in online distribution.

But that doesn’t mean an even boost a c ro s s t h e e co n o my. R e s t r i c t i o n s o n movement remain and ac tivit y is still depressed. In Jinan, the capital of eastern

Shandong province, the local government earmarked the vouchers for tourism and cultural spending. Only about 13 percent of the 14.3-million-yuan vouchers were used as of April 21, and the multiplier was only 2.8 times.

A closer look reveals that spending has mostly gone to food and other necessities. For instance at CR Vanguard, a retail chain controlled by state - owned China Resources Group, the categories that sell the best with the help of the v o u c h e r s a re f re s h f o o d , s a n i t i z e r s , snacks and dair y produc ts, according to data provided by the company.

Zhong Xin, a 29-year-old accountant in Wuhan, is only interested in getting vouchers for supermarkets to get daily necessities, though the local government also designed coupons for catering, shopping malls, sport and tourism. “I don’t think I’ll dine out or wander around shopping malls even if I get the vouchers,” said Zhong, “I’m still very concerned about going out. I think I still need some time to recover mentally from what happened.”

Online shopping is still doing better despite the government’s effort to help brick-and-mortar stores. A survey done by Chinese consumer finance firm LexinFintech showed 66 percent of respondents saying that they prefer to shop online with the vouchers, while 53 percent would spend them on food delivery.

“Given that the face value of the vouchers is not large, it makes sense that consumers are using them on smaller expense items like food,” said Julia Wang, senior economist at HSBC Bank Plc. in Hong Kong. “Some tourist sites and malls have visitor limits, which may be an additional factor at play.”

To lift consumer spending in a more broad-based way, the job market needs to recover swiftly and income growth needs to rebound, Wang said. Otherwise, there will not be a “meaningful increase” in the overall propensity to consume, she added.

Standard Chartered’s Li also pointed out that the economic outlook and continued virus containment are more vital in shaping consumer demand.

In Shenzhen, Shirley Zhang, a 31-year-old human resources manager, was keen to get as many vouchers as she can to save money on groceries. She’s dined out with friends for the first time in almost three months, spurred by more than 100 yuan catering vouchers.

But she remains cautious about spending on luxury items.

“I read news everyday about companies shutting down and people losing their jobs,” said Zhang. “I just made a plan to cut spending on any unnecessary stuff.” Bloomberg News

Sunday, May 3, 2020

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EU eyes investment safeguards to protect strategic businesses

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urope is circling the wagons.

Thrust into a new era of big government by the coronavirus pandemic, European Union officials are scrambling to protect their most prized assets after the worst stock-market rout in nearly a decade left them vulnerable to predators.

Berlin, Paris, Rome and Madrid have all increased their powers to veto investment from outside the EU in recent weeks and the bloc is ushering in the first continentwide rules for screening takeovers on security grounds. Special safeguards have been offered to biotech firms as the race for a vaccine against Covid-19 takes on critical importance.

In a world where economic collapse has added to the uncertainties stirred up by China’s rise, America’s retreat and Russia’s muscle-flexing, the 27-nation EU is ditching its long-standing opendoor policy amid signs that other global powers are looking to gain an advantage.

Chinese companies backed by the financial muscle of the communist state are already hunting for bargains in Europe. Germany learned a bitter lesson from billionaire private investor Li Shufu’s stealth operation to become Daimler AG’s biggest shareholder in 2018. Officials in Berlin were also alarmed by reports in March of a US government approach, denied by the White House, for a vaccine research firm. “ This is about the need to protect our critical infrastructure—to be not too naive about what could happen with some vulnerable sectors and vulnerable technologies from third-country interventions,” European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan told EU lawmakers on April 21 in Brussels.

Until now, foreign investors have been mostly concerned with complying by the EU’s competition rules, said Pascal Dupeyrat, who advises non-European investors in France. “For the next five to 10 years, such transactions will have to be acceptable under the much broader measure of national security,” he said.

All the same, the EU must tread carefully because of the importance of foreign direct investment, or FDI, to the European economy.

FDI is directly responsible for around 16 million jobs in the EU and the bloc had attracted 7.2 trillion euros ($7.8 trillion) of foreign money by the end of 2018.

In that sense, Europe has been a barometer of the global economy. Worldwide, the ratio of FDI stocks to global gross domestic product increased almost sixfold to 40 percent in 2017 from 7 percent in 1990, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Despite the extra regulatory scrutiny, foreign investors’ interest in European assets will remain strong as a result of the equity-market slump likely to last well into next year, said Davina Garrod, a London-based investment and competition adviser at law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Llp. “The tide is turning in Europe with heightened vigilance, particularly regarding the Chinese and Russians,” Garrod said. “But

it’s not turning Europe into a fortress.”

In Germany, warnings about possible bids by foreign suitors have put the spotlight on industries ranging from machinery to software.

In early April, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government tightened protections to enable it to block acquisitions that present “potential interference” to critical infrastructure. On Tuesday the economy minister added an extra provision for all investments of 10 percent or more in healthcare companies. France and Italy have introduced similar rules for all strategic businesses this month and broadened the definition of key firms to include health care.

And then there is the UK, which left the EU and has seemed intent on showing it will do things differently. But the mood in London has cooled toward China and the post-Brexit dream of a “Global Britain” is likely to come under pressure as the government sees famous brands being swiped up.

Hong Kong billionaire Li Kashing recently bought pub operator Greene King and Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, acquired the iconic toy-store chain Hamleys last year. Over the past three months, executives from ma in land China, Hong Kong and Singapore—including Li Kashing’s son Victor Li and Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang— have said they are looking to pick up assets pummeled by the virus.

Blocking takeovers

In Berlin, officials are on their guard.Following reports of a US offer to German biotech firm Curevac, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said authorities were scrutinizing one concrete attempt to purchase a German company involved in “medical production” and examining several others. “ There are a number of other cases that we are monitoring ver y closely, in which we’re determined to stop potential

takeovers,” he said.

Analysts suggest that the smalland medium-sized engineering firms that form the backbone of German industry could attract interest. They’ve highlighted companies like Jenoptik AG in the former communist east that specializes in precision lasers and optics and Deutz AG, the world’s oldest engine company, which is now developing electric drivetrains.

Shifting mood

With memories still fresh of Chinese investments in the likes of Greece’s main seaport and of Portugal’s biggest utility during the euro-area debt crisis, Germans were alarmed by the takeover of robot maker Kuka AG by China’s Midea Group Co. in 2016.

A joint push in early 2017 by Germany, France and Italy led the EU as a whole to bolster its defenses and in 2018 the German government stopped a Chinese bid for the first time, vetoing the potential purchase of machinetool manufacturer Leifeld Metal Spinning AG. A new European law on screening foreign investments, due to take effect this October, aims to increase protection for “critical infrastructure,” including in the health, energy, transport and financial industries, and “critical technologies” such as artificial intelligence, robotics and semiconductors. That legislation was driven largely by unease over Chinese acquisitions.

Without taking the ultimate power of approving deals away from individual EU governments, the law sets up a bloc-wide “cooperation mechanism” for foreign direct investments. While waiting for the legislation to take full effect on October 11, the European Commission is warning against complacency.

“The mood has shifted significantly in Europe,” said Joachim Pohl, an expert on foreign direct investment at the Paris-based OECD. “Security concerns have come to the fore.” Bloomberg News

As economies stagger, pressures grow to ease Covid-19 lockdowns

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ARIS—The world’s economic pain was on full display Thursday as Europe and the United States were releasing more evidence of the devastation wrought on jobs and economies by coronavirus lockdown measures.

In Europe, where over 132,000 people with the virus have died so far, fears about new infection spikes were tempering hopes that economies now on government-funded life support will regain their vigor as workers return to factories, shops and offices.

New unemployment figures on Thursday covering the 19 European countries that use the shared euro currency underscored how massive job-protection programs are temporarily keeping millions of Europeans on payrolls, sparing them the record-setting flood of layoffs battering tens of millions of Americans.

Th e Eu ro p e a n e c o n o m y s h r a n k a record 3.8 percent in the first quarter as hotels, restaurants, construction sites and manufacturing were frozen by coronavirus shutdowns. It was the biggest drop in the eurozone since statistics began in 1995 and compares to a 4.8-percent contraction in the United States.

Lockdowns that turned major European cities into ghost towns are plunging nations into recession. France’s economy shrank an eye-popping 5.8 percent in the first quarter, the biggest quarterly drop since 1949, and the Spanish economy shrunk 5.2 percent in the same period.

Italy’s government debt rating was cut

this week to just above junk bond status, with the Fitch ratings agency expecting the Italian economy to shrink 8 percent this year. Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy, is projecting a 6.3-percent drop in GDP this year.

No region in the world is being spared. A new report from the Paris-based International Energy Agency projected an unprecedented plunge in the global demand for energy this year that will be equivalent to losing the entire energy demand of India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer.

The pain of coronavirus lockdowns has piled huge pressures on governments to ease them. The World Health Organization said nearly half of the 44 countries in Europe that put partial or full restrictions on movement have started easing them and 11 more will do so in the coming days.

But as economies splutter back to life and workers adapt to the strangeness of new barriers designed to keep them apart, governments are watching infection rates and public behavior like hawks, wary of a second wave of deaths.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said his government wants to take “small steps, rather than risk a big step back.”

California’s governor planned to close all beaches and state parks star ting Friday after people thronged the seashore during a sweltering weekend, ignoring social distancing orders. Nevada’s governor was extending his directive asking people to stay at home until May 15 but on Friday

A view of the empty Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade following Italy’s lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in Milan, Italy, on April 30. Italy is in its eighth week of national lockdown, with some partial easing of restrictions on everyday life slated to take effect on Monday, with lifting of yet more limits set for later in coming weeks, on condition the rate of contagion doesn’t sharply start rising again. Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP

e a s e d re s t r i c t i o n s o n s o m e o u t d o o r activities and businesses.

In Sweden, authorities spread stinky chicken manure on a city park in Lund to discourage people from celebrating there on Thursday, a traditionally festive day.

The promise of an effective treatment against the coronavirus—an experimental d ru g t h at ca n s p e e d t h e re cove r y o f Co v i d - 1 9 p a t i e n t s — r a i s e d h o p e s o n Thursday for faster progress in battling t h e p a n d e m i c a n d re s to r i n g w re c ke d

economies and livelihoods.

The US government and others are working to make the medication available to patients as quickly as possible. News of the medical advance lifted world markets, outshining gloomy economic data showing the US economy contracted nearly 5 percent in January-March in the worst downturn since the Great Recession.

California-based biotech company Gilead Sciences and the US government reported in a major study run by the US National Institutes

of Health that the drug remdesivir shortened the time it takes for Covid-19 patients to recover by four days on average—from 15 days to 11.

The study, involving 1,063 coronavirus patients, also showed a trend toward fewer deaths among those on the drug, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious diseases expert.

“What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” he said. “This will be the standard of care.”

Even though a vaccine is perhaps a year or more away, experts say an effective treatment could have a profound effect on the outbreak. Stocks surged on Wednesday on the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 530 points. Asian markets rode the same wave of optimism on Thursday but eurozone numbers weighed on markets in Europe.

The virus has killed nearly 228,000 people worldwide, including more than 60,000 confirmed deaths in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections globally have reached 3.2 million, including 1 million in the US, but the true numbers are likely much higher because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and concealment by some governments.

The latest figures on Americans applying for unemployment benefits come out Thursday, with economists estimating perhaps 1 in 6 workers, or nearly 30 million people, have lost their jobs over the past six weeks.

Mario Franco, who worked at a McDonald’s at a highway rest stop in Darien, Connecticut, for 26 years, rising to night manager, was laid off in late March. The 50-year-old said he has little savings and now relies on a food bank and union donations.

“They didn’t give us any notice,” he said.

“Just suddenly the night shift ended and that was it. There was no more work.”

The US unemployment rate for April is due late next week, and economists say it could range as high as 20 percent—a level last seen during the Depression.

Worldwide, the International Labor Organization forecast the pandemic has left 1.6 billion people who depend on day labor, gig jobs or other informal work in immediate danger of losing their livelihoods. That’s nearly half the global work force of 3.3 billion. It expects 305 million full-time jobs to be wiped out in April-June.

Pushing to reopen the country, President Donald Trump was allowing federal social distancing guidelines to expire on Thursday and was even planning to travel to Arizona next week.

But many economists are skeptical that the US economy will bounce back quickly, noting that the virus could flare up again or consumers and employees might be too worried to return to business as usual.

“The virus has done a lot of damage to the economy and there is just so much uncertainty now,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. AP

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The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, May 3, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

World embraces contact-tracing technology to fight coronavirus

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ovid-19 has killed more than 200,000 people and triggered a severe recession. Governments want to get people back to work, and a key part of this is contact-tracing technology that helps authorities track the virus and warn citizens who may be infected to stay home or get tested.

Tech companies have jumped at the opportunity, with the highestprofile effort coming from Apple Inc. and Google. These tech giants aren’t alone, though. Here’s a round up of initiatives from around the world:

United States

Compared to the rest of the world, the US is behind in developing contact-tracing apps.

T here is no officia l nationa l system, and patchworks of apps have sprung up at the state and even municipal level.

Apple and Google plan to release the first version of their contact-tracing system by the middle of May. This will let health agencies build apps that allow a person who tests positive for Covid-19 to input their diagnosis.

The system will then use Bluetooth technology to learn who the person has come into contact with and then notify those people of a possible exposure. A second phase, to be rolled out in the coming months, will have deeper integration with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems to rely less on apps.

In early April, a startup repurposed an app that had been used by football fans traveling to faroff championships to begin tracking Covid-19 in North and South Dakota. It’s anonymous, but uses location data to track where people go. If someone tests positive, public health authorities can use the historical data to figure out who else should be tested and quarantined. When Apple and Google’s tool launches, it will be integrated into the app, according to the North Dakota government’s web-

site. Utah’s HealthyTogether app uses Bluetooth and location data to track people’s whereabouts and go back to see who they might have been in contact with if they test positive. The app also lets people input their symptoms and connects them to a testing center if they’re deemed high risk. Nodle, a start-up that has developed Bluetooth applications in the past, is building its own app that follows similar principles to Apple and Google’s plan. Using Bluetooth, it keeps tabs on interactions between people, and can notify users if they’ve come into contact with someone who has Covid-19. It’s a global app but is being tested in Berkeley, California, right now.

Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is building a “tracing army” to track the origin of individual Covid-19 cases and reduce the spread of the virus. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies are donating $10.5 million to the effort.

Asia

China, South Korea and Singapore have led the way in developing contact-tracing systems. Some governments already had systems in place, having learned from the SARS epidemic 15 years ago.

South Korean white hat hackers and self-taught coders jumped into the development of tracing apps as early as January, even before there was a domestic outbreak. Coronamap.site, created by a university student, informs users of the movements of confirmed patients and places where infected people have circulated.

The government has also devel-

oped an app to enforce quarantine orders, which uses location data and tracks whether smartphone users have turned off their GPS. About 90 percent of people under self-quarantine had installed the government app as of April 13.

China’s tech giants stepped in early to help the government contain the pandemic. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat, the country’s primary digital payment channels, already tracked the consumer activity of hundreds of millions of users. During the outbreak, both companies released QR code systems that can be read by smartphones and allow authorities to designate which people pose health risks and need to be quarantined and which ones can use public spaces and transportation. The government is using the technology extensively to police the country as it gets back on its feet. Alibaba’s system assigns each user one of three colors—green, yellow or red—based on their location, health information and travel history. Green allows freedom of movement, while yellow and red indicate that people must self-quarantine or enter a supervised quarantine facility, respectively. The system has been widely adopted.

Singapore was among the first to roll out a contact-tracing app.

TraceTogether launched on March 20, and more than a million of Singapore’s 5.7 million residents installed it by mid-April. The system uses Bluetooth, and data is crunched securely on each individual’s phone, making it a precursor to the Apple and Google plan. Due to relatively low adoption, the country still had to institute a strict lockdown. India’s contact-tracing app, Aarogya Setu was downloaded by more than 50 million people in just 13 days at the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The app collects lots of sensitive information, and can use it in more ways, which prompted criticism from privacy advocates. More than 2 million Australians have downloaded the government contact-tracing app, which uses Bluetooth instead of GPS data. That’s well below the

40 percent of the population that need to use it for the system to be effective, according to the government’s estimates.

Europe

The European Union has published guidelines for contact-tracing apps.

The requirements dictate that apps should be voluntary, approved by national health authorities, preserve user privacy and should be dismantled as soon as they are no longer needed. Interoperability is key so tracing can continue even when citizens start to cross borders again.

Iceland’s app, called Rakning C-19, uses smartphone location data, which must be enabled at all times to work. Once set up, the app runs in the background and saves the phone’s location several times per hour, storing the data on the phone itself and deleting it after 14 days. Using location instead of Bluetooth can give health authorities richer data about the virus’s spread, but it also makes it easier for governments to track individuals in a way that could infringe on privacy.

Austria and Switzerland are building apps based on an approach called DP-3T, designed collaboratively by researchers to preserve user privacy. Some of its principles are similar to Google and Apple’s approach, and it uses Bluetooth in the same way. The effort is strictly opposed to centralized apps that let governments and health authorities store and access information.

SAP SE and Deutsche Telekom are working with Germany to build the country its own contacttracing app. Data was originally supposed to be stored on a central server, but after criticism about a lack of privacy, the country opted for a decentralized approach, following the principles outlined by Apple and Google. The UK’s National Health Service is building its own app that will store information centrally so virus trackers can have more information to work with. NHS engineers were able to tweak existing software from Apple and Google to make the Bluetooth app work even when running in the background.

America First meets global pandemic W

hen terrorists struck the United States on September 11, Nicholas Burns was the US ambassador to Nato, and one memory still stands out: how swiftly America’s allies invoked Article Five of the organization’s charter, that an attack on one member was an attack on all.

It was a kinship among nations nurtured over decades and a muscular display of collective defense that has defined much of the post World War II era.

It is also a worldview that Burns finds starkly at odds with President Donald Trump’s“America First”foreign policy as Nato’s members and other countries suffer from the deadly weight of the coronavirus pandemic.

America First has been a ready applause line for Trump, but now it is also a philosophy being put to a life-or-death test, with much of the world still looking to the US for leadership and assistance.

Burns, a Harvard professor and a former top US diplomat who served Republican and Democratic presidents, said it was “entirely reasonable and rational” to focus inward “in the first weeks of the crisis in March. The president’s job is to protect the people of the United States.

Having said that, I think it is abundantly clear that we cannot succeed in fighting the pandemic and confront the global economic collapse if we are not cooperating globally.”

“The America First attitude is a very fixed set of beliefs about the world and our role in it,” said Burns, who is also an informal adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “He thinks that

alliances and partnerships weaken us and slow us down. He’s not an isolationist. He’s a unilateralist.

That has not worked well the last three years.”

Trump’s guiding foreign policy mixed with his “I alone can fix it”ethos has made him an unpredictable partner for America’s allies, who continue to struggle with how to manage the president and fortify strategic ties with the United States.

During the pandemic, Trump has been accused by allies like Germany and Canada of disrupting shipments of medical supplies, saying that the US needed them first. But he has also offered to provide ventilators to other nations, both among allies and foes.

“President Trump has done a masterful job in the face of an unprecedented crises— safeguarding the health and well-being of the American people by ensuring our citizens have what they need first—then providing assistance to allies through an historic coordination of international efforts,” Hogan Gidley, the deputy White House press secretary, said in a statement.

For much of his presidency, though, Trump has been alliance averse. He has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate treaty while threatening to do the same for Nato. And he has rattled some of the United States’s longest allies with aggressive rhetoric on trade deals and military alliances alike.

He has favored authoritarian leaders like President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong Un of North Korea over those like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Now China has also moved to fill a gap in humanitarian aid in the form of supplies. Trump has become more bellicose toward China, saying that the country withheld critical information about the coronavirus outbreak and would pay an unspecified later price for it.

“This pandemic crisis shows the inherent limits to the America First foreign policy,” said Richard Haass, another top diplomat in both Bush administrations and president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Sovereignty is not a guarantee of security. Borders aren’t impermeable; oceans aren’t moats. We were vulnerable to an infection that began in Wuhan, and it proves that globalization is a reality rather than a choice.”

Had Trump truly implemented America First, he said, the nation would have been better prepared. “A true American First national security policy would have had in place more testing, ventilators, PPE. It would have been more selfreliant. This moment shows that America First is more of a slogan than a reality.”

But Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to Trump, said that America First does not mean America alone. “It means prioritizing national interest and that strong allies matters. You don’t turn your back on them. America doesn’t need to abandon a leadership position. It needs to be a global leader, the global leader. But you prioritize what you need.”

Bannon said the crisis also underscored the lack of US capacity to manufacture medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, businesses that have located primarily in China and

India because of lower production costs. “This pandemic underscores that public health is a national security issue,” he said, adding, “A new nationalism is going to be coming out of this: a stronger America, a more focused America.”

The notion of America First flourished during World War I and was promoted by Republicans and Democrats alike until World War II. After World War II, when the US emerged as a superpower, the country took on an expansionist view of how spreading American ideals and building alliances could ensure peace and the US standing in the world.

The grandest show of influence was the Marshall Plan, when the US spent about $800 billion in today’s dollars to rebuild Western Europe after World War II, an investment that built alliances that endure today, even though some of them have grown fragile in the Trump era.

“Broadly, the president has failed his Harry Truman moment,” said Benn Steil, the author of the award-winning book “The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War.” “He had the best opportunity he would ever have to show the world he could rally his nation and its allies around a pandemic response that would highlight the best features of democracy and capitalism— as the Marshall Plan did.”

Instead, Steil said, he is “hearing shock and disappointment” from colleagues abroad. “They have never seen a United States so dysfunctional that it cannot even protect its own citizens, let alone mitigate suffering abroad and rally cooperation among allies.” AP

In this April 29 photo, Shiba Park is packed with families with small children day camping in tents on the first day of the “Golden Week” holidays in Tokyo. Under Japan’s coronavirus state of emergency, people have been asked to stay home. Many are not. Some still have to commute to their jobs despite risks of infection, while others are dining out, picnicking in parks and crowding into grocery stores with scant regard for social distancing. AP/Kiichiro Sato

Many Japanese defy appeals to stay home to curb Covid-19

By Mari Yamaguchi the Associated Press

OK YO — Under Japa n’s coronavirus state of emergency, people have been asked to stay home. Many are not. Some still have to commute to their jobs despite risks of infection, while others continue to dine out, picnic in parks and crowd into grocery stores with scant regard for social distancing.

On Wednesday, the first day of the “Golden Week” holidays that run through May 5, Tokyo’s leafy Shiba Park was packed with families with small children, day camping in tents.

The lure of heading out for Golden Week holidays is testing the public’s will to unite against a common enemy as health workers warn rising coronavirus cases are overwhelming the medical system in some places.

Experts say a sense of urgency is missing, thanks to mixed messaging from the government and a lack of incentives to stay home.

In distant, tropical Okinawa, locals have resorted to posting social-media appeals to tourists not to visit, “to protect our grannies and grandpas.”

“Please cancel your trip to Okinawa and wait until we can welcome you,” Okinawa’s Gov. Denny Tamaki tweeted. “Unfortunately Okinawa can provide no hospitality and our medical systems, including on remote islands, are in a state of emergency.”

In this country driven by conformity and consensus, the pandemic is pitting those willing to follow the rules against a sizable minority who are resisting the calls to stay home.

To get better compliance, the government needs stronger messaging, said Naoya Sekiya, a University of Tokyo professor and expert of social psychology and risk communications.

A tougher lockdown would also help. While the halfhearted adherence to the calls to stay home has dismayed Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, none of those spurning the advice are breaking the law. Legally, the state of emergency can only involve requests for compliance.

Violators face no penalties. There are few incentives to close shops.

The main message has been economy first, safety second: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has insisted Japan will not adopt European-style hard lockdowns that would paralyze the economy. His economy minister heads the government’s coronavirus task force meetings.

“The message coming from the government is rather mild, apparently trying to convey the need to stay home while prioritizing the economy,” Sekiya said. Since people lack a shared sense of crisis, instead of staying home they’re hoping for the best and assuming they won’t get infected, he said.

Three-quarters of people responding to a recent survey by the Asahi newspaper said they

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are going out less than usual. But just over half felt they could comply with Abe’s call to reduce their social interactions by 80 percent.

People of all ages are shrugging off the stay-at-home request. The popular “scramble” intersection in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya looked uncrowded, but eateries and pubs on backstreets were still busy. In the western suburb of Kichijoji, narrow shopping streets were jammed during the weekend with families strolling and heading to lunch. Pachinko pinball parlors have drawn ire for staying open despite name-and-shame announcements and other pressure to close.

Bars and restaurants are ignoring a requested 8 p.m. closing time.

“It’s ridiculous,” said an 80-yearold man drinking on Wednesday at a downtown bar. “What am I supposed to do at home? I’d only be watching TV.” Officials are trying to fight back.

In Kichijoji, they patrolled shopping arcades carrying banners saying “Please, do not go out.” Local mayors appealed to the government to close the crowded Shonan beach, popular with surfers and families, south of Tokyo. Some prefectures have set up border checkpoints to spot non-local license plates.

“It seems not everyone shares the sense of crisis,” said Kazunobu Nishikawa, a disaster prevention official in Musashino city, which oversees Kichijoji. “Many people understand the risks of this infectious disease,” he said, but “others seem to think Covid-19 is nothing more than a common cold and don’t care as long as they don’t catch it.”

Abe declared the state of emergency on April 7, as virus cases surged. It initially covered only Tokyo and six other areas but later expanded to include the whole country. Abe did not ask non-essential businesses to close. But Koike, the Tokyo governor, fought and prevailed in requesting that schools, movie theaters, athletic clubs, hostess bars and other such businesses in the city be asked to close. Most restaurants and pubs still can operate from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., and grocery and convenience stores and public transport remain open as usual.

The government has rolled out an unprecedentedly huge economic package of 108 trillion yen ($1 trillion) that included loans for small businesses and other coronavirus measures. Responding to criticism he was neglecting individuals and families in dire need of cash to survive, Abe belatedly announced cash payouts of 100,000 yen each to all residents of Japan.

Survey data show the 80-percent social distancing target has roughly been met during weekends, with the numbers of nightlife goers and commuters noticeably lower. But parks and popular outdoor spots in Japan’s densely crowded cities are still bustling with people, said Hiroshi Nishiura, a Hokkaido University professor and expert of epidemiological analysis. AP

Science

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Ventilators for Covid-19 patients being produced by PHL experts

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entilators, which are very much indemand in the management of Covid-19 patients who have difficulty breathing, are currently being developed and mass produced in the country.

Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña announced at the recent meeting of Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATFEID) with President Duterte at Malacañang that the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Ginhawa (ReliefVent) research is making ventilators.

“The average number of ventilators in small hospitals around the Philippines is very small compared to what is really needed. It has also become more difficult to obtain imported ventilators these days due to high demand,” de la Peña said in his presentation, a copy of its video was made available to journalists.

Ventilators are machines that assist in providing air into the lungs of a patient who have difficulty breathing. Covid-19 infect the respiratory tract, making the lungs and airways swell and become inflamed, causing the patient to have difficulty in breathing.

“The DOST’s Ginhawa [ReliefVent] can help in responding to our patients’ needs,” de la Peña said.

He told the IATF-EID that the final production of the ventilators’ three prototypes are being done.

“If the prototypes will work with test patients at ICUs [intensive care units], we can continue with mass production,” he added.

De la Peña said the DOST opened the production of the ventilators to other manufacturers, and has already identified capable electronic companies in mass producing the ventilators.

The Science chief said around eight other groups have submitted their proposals, including those from Don Bosco and Mapua University.

He explained at a televised briefing on Thursday that the portable ventilator under Project Ginhawa was designed by medical experts and pulmonologists from University of the Philippines Manila and UP National Institutes of Health, and by engineers from De La Salle University.

De la Peña added that the Project Ginhawa ventilator was designed even before the Covid-19 pandemic occurred in order to assist hospitals that lack ventilators or respirators.

He said there are small hospitals with a capacity of 10 patients in the ICU but have only one ventilator.

So Project Ginhawa was created in order to make ventilators affordable for small hospitals.

The prototypes are lightweight at 8 kilograms and much less expensive compared to imported ventilators.

Embedded with software for self-diagnostic cloud-based data analytic and protocols for operations and trouble-shooting, ReliefVent runs on both AC or DC power.

Based on de la Peña’s report on lack of respirators, President Duterte announced that he will give a P20-million reward to any Filipino who can produce respirators that would be used to treat Covid-19, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a televised news conference.

ITDI’s 3D ventilator splitter

At the same time, the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) of the DOST, with its Multiple Materials Platform for Additive Manufacturing Project (Matdev) Team is also working on 3D-printing prototypes of parts of the Multiple Patient Ventilator Splitter and Mechanic Ventilator-Mini-War Zone.

Currently, five hospitals in Metro Manila are waiting for their 3D-printed prototypes of ventilator parts, DOST-ITDI said in a news release.

3D-printed respirator valves

With confirmed number of Covid-19 cases increasing, DOST-ITDI Director Dr. Annabelle V. Briones, through its Matdev Team Leader and Materials Science Division Chief Dr. Blessie A. Basilia, delivered two prototypes of 3D-printed respirator venturi valves to the National Children’s Hospital in Quezon City recently to test fit in their existing respirator.

The Matdev Team, using Fused Deposition Modeling and Markforged Mark Two 3D printers, developed the prototype to assist hospitals as they easily run out of respirator valves.

The valves connect patients in intensive care to breathing machines. Respirator venturi valves are commonly used by hospitals worldwide because these can be used for a maximum of eight hours at a time.

Nebulizer

Further, the Matdev Team is improving a nebulizer mask design. It developed a 3D-printed filter attachment for use in commercially available masks, such as the Modified Oxygen Concentrator Mask. The attachment allows for a more efficient way for patients to breathe in medications.

The team members are also producing a 3D-printed prototype of an N95 mask, and are now considering some improvements for its optimum functionality by using nano-enabled filament material, an anti-viral filter cloth, and adding a flexible lining on the edges of the mask.

Face shields

M e a n wh i l e , ITDI recently donated 100 3D-printed frame and face shield assemblies to the Perpetual Help Medical Center in Las Piñas City on April 14.

This augmented an initial donation of 100 of the shield assemblies each to the Philippine Heart Center on March 30, and the Lung Center of the Philippines. Lyn Resurreccion with AMGuevarra/S&T Media Service

Sunday, May 3, 2020 A5 BusinessMirror Effective against infections, including those caused by Covid-19

DOST-NRCP scientists discover antibiotics from marine sediments

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hile the world’s and Philippines’ experts are in the midst of discovering the cure and eventually producing the vaccine to stem Covid-19, researchers from the National Research Council of the Philippines of the Department of Science and Technology (DOSTNRCP) Researchers have discovered antibiotics from marine sediments that could cure infections caused by the coronavirus.

At the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City, two DOST-NRCP Researchers—Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay and Dr. Jonel P. Saludes— have discovered antibiotics from a bacteria thriving in marine sediments in the Philippines.

The antibiotics are effective in killing the multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a pathogen or germ that causes a range of illnesses from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, by breaking the protective membrane of the cell.

“Findings from basic research lay the groundwork to establish validated data and information needed to prepare the country should there be an epidemic or a pandemic,” according to Dalisay, the lead author of the paper.

While antibiotics are not directly effective against viral diseases, such as the coronavirus, antibiotics cure infections, which develop in Cov id-19 -infected people, Elena Talingdan, chief research specia list at DOSTNRCP’s Research Information and Dissemination Division, told the BusinessMirror.

Talingdan explained that the

DOST-FPRDI produces bamboo-framed face shields

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esponding to the need for more personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Science and TechnologyForest Products Research and Development Institute (DOSTFPRDI) produced bamboo-framed face shields for distribution to frontline services in Laguna.

“Our team had to improvise with the materials at hand because the enhanced community quarantine made it challenging to procure supplies,” explained DOST-FPRDI Director Romulo T. Aggangan.

The frames of the face shields were made from bamboo (kauayan-tinik)—a perennial, woodystemmed grass known for its versatile uses.

Bamboo grows very well locally and is a favored raw material for handicraft and furniture production.

According to Aggangan, at least 300 face shields were produced and turned over to the University of the Philippines Los Baños, some barangays in Los Baños, Laguna, and rural health units of LB and Bay, Laguna, among others. Another batch will be produced in the coming weeks.

“The DOST-FPRDI is one with the science community in finding ways to protect our frontliners and the public from Covid-19. Currently, we are exploring other possible uses of forest products to help combat this global pandemic. The use of R&D and scientific facts is all the more needed to cope in these challenging times,” he said. Apple Jean C. Martin- de Leon/S&T News Service

marine-developed antibiotics are not yet available but they will be produced soon.

Dalisay said the findings of the research provide evidence that these antibiotics potentially serve as leads to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

The research work was reviewed by antibiotic experts from Italy and Russia and was published on April 24 in high impact international journal, Frontiers in Microbiology under the research topic “Marine Microbial-Derived Molecules and Their Potential Medical and Cosmetic Applications.”

Frontiers in Microbiology, one of the most cited microbiology journals, has an Impact Factor of 4.259 and publishes rigorously peer-reviewed manuscripts across the entire spectrum of microbiology.

In their paper published in Frontiers in Microbiology, the Filipino scientists said the rise in antibiotic resistance and the drying up of the pipeline for the development of new antibiotics demand an urgent search for new antibiotic leads.

“While the majority of clinically available antibiotics were

Turn-over of face shields to some barangays in Los Baños, Laguna. Muriel B. Dizon

Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay has her eureka moment in the antibiotics they discovered from marine sediments. DOST-NRCP

discovered from terrestrial Streptomyces, related species from marine sediments as a source of antibiotics remain underexplored,” they said.

“We utilized culture-dependent isolation of 35 marine sediment-derived actinobacterial isolates followed by a screening of their antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant S. aureus ATCC BAA-44,” they explained. “Our results revealed that the crude extract of Streptomyces griseorubens strain DSD069 isolated from marine sediments collected in Romblon, Philippines, displays the highest antibacterial activity, with 96.4-percent growth inhibition.”

The research was made possible through a grant-in-aid program awarded to University of

San Agustin by the DOST-NRCP. This funding enabled the university to develop groundbreaking drug discovery research competencies in Western Visayas in particular, and the Philippines in general.

Dalisay is a member of Division IV (Pharmaceutical Sciences) and currently the chairman of NRCP Visayas Chapter and the Director of the University of San Agustin Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology.

Saludes is also an NRCP member of Division 10 (Chemical Sciences) and the associate vice president for Research and Global Relations also at the University of San Agustin. They are both DOST Balik Scientists. Maria Elena

A. Talingdan and Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay/S&T Media Service

VCO in-vitro test vs Covid-19 ‘hopeful;’ ‘lagundi,’ ‘tawa-tawa’ next in line

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The bamboo-framed face shields produced by a team led by DOST-FPRDI’s Froilan B. Samiano, Audel V. Mosteiro, Noel M. Medrano, Val DV Valderama and Engr.

Cesar O. Austria. Audel V. Mosteiro

Sunday

By Lyn Resurreccion

he result of the in-vitro trial of virgin coconut oil (VCO) and its derivatives against the coronavirus at a laboratory in Singapore is “hopeful,” while its clinical tests are set to start in two Philippine hospitals.

This came as Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña announced that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is also planning to have in-vitro tests of lagundi and tawa-tawa as cure against Covid-19.

Dr. Fabian M. Dayrit, the project leader in the VCO in-vitro test in Duke-National University (Duke-NUS) of Singapore, told the B usiness M irror that they are hopeful that the laboratory tests will result in VCO’s being effective against Covid-19.

When asked if the research is on schedule, Dayrit said “barring serious disruptions” it could be “finished in about four weeks.” The samples were sent to Duke-NUS in late March.

“Singapore has its own quarantine rules [because of Covid-19] so it is hard to expect the same pace of work,” Dayrit said through text message.

He told the BusinessMirror in an interview in the third week of March that the laboratory test in Singapore is expected to be finished in two months.

Dayrit had earlier researches on the safety and efficacy of VCO and its derivatives to both humans and animals.

He said the research has to be done in Singapore because the Philippines has no laboratory for the purpose.

VCO clinical tests

De la Peña announced last week that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the holding of clinical trials of VCO on Covid-19 patients. They are set to be held at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila and Santa Rosa Community Hospital in Laguna.

De la Peña told the B usinessM irror in an earlier interview that the clinical trials are set for one month and they have to test 45 patients from each hospitals.

Lagundi and tawa-tawa

At the same time, de la Peña told the Interagency Task Force meeting with President Duterte this last week that the DOST will test tawa-tawa and lagundi against Covid-19.

He explained to the B usinessM irror in a phone interview on Thursday that the two herbs will be subjected to in-vitro tests in Singapore.

However, plans for the research are still being made by the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development.

Lagundi has long been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is now a popular cough remedy, while tawa-tawa got the FDA nod as supplement against dengue last years.

De la Peña said since lagundi is already being used against cough it could also help against Covid-19, but it still has to be tested against the coronavirus.

The same with tawa-tawa, it also has to undergo a lab test to determine its efficacy against Covid-19.

Faith A6 Sunday, May 3, 2020

Sunday

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion •www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pope Francis to Catholics: Unite through praying the rosary in May

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ATICAN—Pope Francis sent a letter recently encouraging Catholics to pray the rosary throughout May. He also shared two new prayers to implore the help of the Virgin Mary during the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the rosaries given by Pope Francis to young people from Milan in April 2019. Vatican Media

“Contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of Mary our Mother will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial,” Pope Francis said in a letter on April 25.

He urged families and individuals to “rediscover the beauty of praying the rosary at home in the month of May,” which is traditionally a time of increased devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

With his letter, the pope included two prayers to Our Lady to recite at the end of the rosary, which he said he would also pray throughout May “in spiritual union with all of you.”

In the first prayer, Mary’s help is invoked “to conform ourselves to the will of the Father and to do what Jesus tells us.”

In the second, longer prayer, the Virgin Mary is asked to “turn your merciful eyes toward us amid this coronavirus pandemic,” and her intercession is asked “that this great suffering may end and that hope and peace may dawn anew.”

The prayer asks for Mary’s comfort for those who mourn

and for those who are anxious about the future, and prays for health-care workers, scientists and national leaders.

The prayer also asks Mary to “be close to those who assist the sick night and day, and to priests who, in their pastoral concern and fidelity to the Gospel, are trying to help and support everyone.”

“Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will stretch out His all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely resume its normal course,” the prayer says.

In his letter, Francis said people can pray the rosary as a group or individually, whatever fits their situation best.

“The key to doing this is always simplicity,” he underlined, adding that the Internet is a good resource for finding prayers to follow.

During May, it is a tradition to pray the rosary “at home within the family,” he said, noting that the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic “have made us come to appreciate all the more this ‘family’ aspect, also from a spiritual

point of view.”

Pope Francis concluded his letter by saying “I keep all of you in my prayers, especially those suffering most greatly, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

“I thank you, and with great affection I send you my blessing.”

Below are the full text of the prayers shared by Pope Francis.

First Prayer

Oh Mary, You shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who, at the foot of the cross, were united with Jesus’ suffering, and persevered in your faith.

“Protectress of the Roman people,” you know our needs, and we know that you will provide, so that, as at Cana in Galilee, joy and celebration may return after this time of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the will of the Father and to do what Jesus tells us. For He took upon Himself our suffering, and burdened Himself with our sorrows to bring us, through the cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.

We fly to your protection, Oh Holy Mother of God; Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from every danger, Oh Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

Second Prayer

“We fly to your protection, Oh Holy Mother of God.” In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we f ly to you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection.

Virgin Mary, turn your merciful eyes toward us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Comfort those who are distraught and mourn their loved ones who have died, and at times are buried in a way that grieves them deeply.

Be close to those who are concerned for their loved ones who are sick and who, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, cannot be close to them.

Fill with hope those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy and employment.

Mother of God and our Mother, pray for us to God, the Father of mercies, that this great suffering may end and that hope and peace may dawn anew.

Plead with your divine Son, as you did at Cana, so that the families of the sick and the victims be comforted, and their hearts be opened to confidence and trust.

Protect those doctors, nurses, health workers and volunteers who are on the frontline of this emergency, and are risking their lives to save others. Support their heroic effort and grant them strength, generosity and continued health.

Be close to those who assist the sick night and day, and to priests who, in their pastoral concern and fidelity to the Gospel, are trying to help and support everyone.

Blessed Virgin, illumine the minds of men and women engaged in scientific research, that they may find effective solutions to overcome this virus.

Support national leaders, that with wisdom, solicitude and generosity, they may come to the aid of those lacking the basic necessities of life and may devise social and economic solutions inspired by farsightedness and solidarity.

Mary Most Holy, stir our consciences, so that the enormous funds invested in developing and stockpiling arms will instead be spent on promoting effective research on how to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

Beloved Mother, help us realize that we are all members of one great family and to recognize the bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate countless situations of poverty and need. Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant in prayer.

Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will stretch out His all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely resume its normal course.

To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, Oh Clement, Oh Loving, Oh Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen. Hannah Brockhaus/Catho-

PHL bishops to consecrate nation to Blessed Mother

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle blesses a statue of Our Lady of Fatima during a prayer vigil to mark her feast at the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on May 13, 2019. The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima via RCAM

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he Philippines, through its archdioceses and dioceses, will be consecrated to the care of the Blessed Mother amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The bishops are expected to lead the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in their respective cathedrals on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Valenzuela City has earlier invited the bishops to celebrate the feast “in a special way.”

“I think this is a wonderful initiative,” Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the episcopal conference, stated in his letter to the dioceses on April 27.

This consecration reaffirms the bishops’ previous consecrations of the Philippines to Mary.

In 2013, during the Year of Faith, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also consecrated the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In Manila, Bishop Broderick Pabillo will lead the prayer of consecration at the cathedral on May 13, which is also the 103rd anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.

The prayer, he said, will also be joined by the mayors of the five cities covering the archdiocese: Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Makati and San Juan.

“It will be beautiful when all the people of God, led by their civil and religious leaders, put themselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,” Pabillo said.

The archdiocese will also hold a series of catechetical instructions online on the meaning and implication of such consecration.

From May 10, the archdiocese will start a “triduum” of daily penance and rosary, which will culminate on the common act of consecration on May 13.

“We do this to implore the protection of the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother in this difficult time, especially as we move to the transition to a new way of life after the quarantine,” Pabillo added.

“We need strength from above, and we have a powerful intercessor in Mama Mary to get that heavenly help,” he also said.

Pope Francis has earlier encouraged the faithful to pray the rosary during the whole month of May. In a letter addressed to all Catholics and released by the Vatican April 25, he noted that it is a tradition to pray the rosary at home with family during May. “Contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of Mary our Mother will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial,” the pope said. CBCP News

lic News Agency via CBCP News

Latter-day Saint Charities turns over donations to DOH

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s concerns over the respiratory illness coronavirus continue to rise in the Philippines, Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (The Church), recently donated N95 masks and two-ply surgical masks to the Department of Health.

T he 5, 0 0 0 p i e c e s o f N 9 5 masks as wel l as 49,200 pieces of t wo-ply surgica l masks were del ivered to t he DOH wa re house directly from the Church Headquar ters in Utah.

A second set of donations of loc a l ly sou rced m ater i a l s have been delivered to DOH, said Haidi Flores-Fajardo, The Church ’s Area Communication Department head.

They included 20,000 pieces of surgical masks; 2,000 pieces of face shields; 2,000 pieces of rubber gloves; 500 set of protective suits; and 2,000 bottles of 500 ml isopropyl alcohol.

Flores-Fajardo told the BusinessMirror through Messenger: “We are doing a third wave of donations in two weeks as the materials arrive.”

She added: “We are also currently producing 200,000 masks in our

Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, donates N95 masks and surgical masks to the Department of Health for the medical frontliners assisting Covid-19 patients. Church of Jesus Christ

Beehive facility which produces religious clothing but instead the cloth materials are being turned into masks to be donated to the Office of Civil Defense.”

Latter-day Saint Charities has made donations in the for m of funds and supplies to hospitals and emergency room personnel and patients in 16 countr ies batt ling Cov id-19.

So far, aid has been delivered to Cambodia, China, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and

Vietnam, The Church said in its news release.

Ef for t s i nc lude prov id i ng medical and emergency supplies and commodities to health-care professionals and patients.

T hey also include training for health-care professionals on physical, mental, and emotional support to those struggling.

Funding and supplies are also being provided to help with the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.

“We join hands with the Department of Health in battling Covid-19. By working together,

we would be able to provide relief where it is most needed,” said Jairus Perez, country director of Latter-day Saint Charities.

“We are thankful that the needed supplies have arrived and that more are soon to be delivered. We support our frontliners and pray for their protection so that they could continue serving those afflicted. We are hopeful that these trying times would soon pass.

However, while Covid-19 is in our midst, we will continue to support the government in its effort to curb this deadly disease,” Perez added.

Caring for the poor and needy is a foundational belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Built on the principles of personal responsibility, community support, self-reliance and sustainability, humanitarian efforts are designed to give individuals and communities the tools they need to improve their own circumstances in permanent and meaningful ways.

Funding for the donations was made possible by the charitable contributions of thousands of Church members who seek to serve and support those in need around the world.

2 priests among new lawyers

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wo Catholic priests are among the country’s new lawyers.

Fr. Victor de Guzman of the Diocese of San Fernando de La Union and Salesian Fr. Abundio Bacatan joined 2,103 law graduates who hurdled the 2019 Bar examinations.

Father De Guzman is currently the parish priest at the San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish Church in Balaoan, La Union.

Father Bacatan, meanwhile, is currently assigned at Don Bosco Dumangas in Iloilo province.

Before his Iloilo assignment, he served as administrator at the Don Bosco Technical College in

Labangon, Cebu City.

Father Bacatan is also said to be the first Filipino Salesian civil lawyer.

Last year’s Bar exams held at the University of Santo Tomas posted a passing rate of 27.36 percent out of 7,685 examinees, and higher than last year’s 22.07 percent.

UST-Legazpi graduate Mae Diane Azores was the topnotcher in the 2019 Bar exam.

Traditionally displayed on a large screen at the Supreme Court grounds in Manila, the exam results were posted online amid the strict quarantine measures to contain coronavirus. CBCP News

Biodiversity Sunday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A7

‘Leave bats, rats and snakes alone’

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

He said bats, rats, snakes and other wildlife that are often hunted and killed have important ecosystem functions and they are best left alone in their natural habitats.

“It is best to leave wild animals alone,” he said.

s the Philippines braces for the worst impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic within its shores, the blame has put weight on where it all started—a wet market in Wuhan City in Hubei, China—where exotic live animals and their meat are openly sold.

Equally placed on the spotlight are some of the most unappreciated and abhorred animals on the planet— bats, rats and snakes.

Even the little known scaly anteater, incidentally one of the most traded animals in the world today, is put on trial.

Before we go on full blast in victim-blaming here, let us trace back where the problem really began—hunting for food, trophy and sports—which later on emerged into a transnational crime, the lucrative illegal wildlife trade, a major driver of biodiversity loss.

Exotic food, medicine, pet trade

Environment Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon said there are scientific studies linking deadly viruses and diseases to wild animals and the illegal wildlife trade.

It is primarily because of human consumption of wild animals, driven either by the love for exotic food or belief that eating certain wild animals’ meat or their parts, could lead to a longer life span.

Some people also believe that the meat and parts of certain wild animals have high medicinal value, or have aphrodisiac effects when eaten.

Many of the arrests made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in coordination with various law enforcement agencies, Calderon said, can also be attributed to the increasing demand in the illegal pet trade.

“That is why we are strengthening our law enforcement and we are scrutinizing every application for import permits. We get inputs from

Wet markets’ dilemma

According to Tenazas, wet markets have been identified as ideal places for incubating new diseases and bolstering their transmission to humans.

“The increasing rate of wildlife trade, trafficking and poaching tend to likely increase the spread of global epidemics,” she said.

According to Tenazas, emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), particularly zoonotic ones—diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans—are a significant and growing threat to global health, and global economy and security.

She said it is highly probable that transmission can occur through close contact between humans and wildlife as part of ongoing illegal wildlife trade.

our research agency, the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau [ERDB], to determine whether the requested species for importation are not invasive and may cause an environmental problem in the future,” Calderon said.

Lucrative trade

The value of illegal wildlife trade in the Philippines is estimated at P50 billion a year, or roughly over $1 billion, including the market value of wildlife ecological role and value, damage to habitats incurred during poaching, and loss in potential ecotourism revenues.

Based on the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) confiscation records, the top 3 illegally traded species in the country by number of confiscated individuals from 2010 to 2019 are the Palawan pangolin, the common hill myna, and the tokay gecko.

Based on the Bureau of Customs (BOC) records, snakes, monitor lizards and turtles are the most common illegally traded species for export.

On the other hand, assorted spiders, live pigeons, impala, rhinoceros horns, tarantulas, scorpions, elephant tusks and birds’ nests are the most common animals and items for import.

Conduit of zoonotic disease

Describing illegal wildlife trade as “a conduit through which coronavirus is transmitted to humans,” Theresa M. Tenazas, officer in charge of the Wildlife Resources Division of DENR-BMB, said hunting for domestic and international wildlife trade

Limiting interaction

continue to threaten the country’s rich biodiversity.

“While hunting animals from the wild are source of food for some communities in the Philippines for generations, the scale of this practice was relatively small and observed to be limited to subsistence consumption in the early years,” she said.

However, as years passed and the trend and behavior changed, she said wildlife began to be traded in wet markets and gained momentum since 1980s when high demand for wildlife species started and went beyond mere subsistence consumption.

“Nowadays, wildlife is not only sold primarily for food, but also for traditional medicine, pets and ornaments,” she said.

Bats as ‘ecological reservoir’

Citing a report published by the World Health Organization on February 21, Tenazas said it was reported

that the most likely “ecological reservoir” of the novel coronavirus is bats.

While there are no known record of study or research directly linking human consumption, trade of wildlife and open market sale of wildlife raw meat as causing an epidemic in the Philippines, there are already scientific and research studies that prove that coronavirus is a zoonotic disease, which means that it can be transmitted from an animal host to humans, caused by wildlife trade, she said.

Not food or ‘medicine’

Calderon said, unlike animal livestock or farm animals raised specifically for meat, wild animals are not for human consumption and neither are their parts, nor they are meant to be cure for cancer or lingering illnesses.

“More often than not, these beliefs that animal parts have medicinal value or aphrodisiac effect are untrue,” Calderon said.

Climate action, cooperation help prevent spread of infectious diseases

By Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim

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limate change has been linked to more severe and frequent storms that take away lives and damage properties. Its impacts include droughts and seasonal changes that affect harvests and food security.

This global phenomenon has been warming the seas, thus, bleaching corals and affecting fish catch.

It also contributes to the rise of sea levels, which threatens to flood coastal communities, and even cities in the future.

While not highlighted as much, climate action also includes taking care of nature and the remaining biological diversity in the planet.

This natural solution contributes to the sequestration of the burgeoning carbon in the atmosphere, helping mitigate the rising temperature and greenhouse-gas emissions, and buffering vulnerable countries and communities from the impacts of the changing climate.

The continuing exploitation of our biological resources and degradation of our natural ecosystems have exposed us to the full brunt of disasters that are consequences of the climate crisis, which include the spread of infectious diseases.

According to the World Health Organization, climate change affects water-borne diseases transmitted through insects and cold-blooded animals, and lengthens the transmission season of vector-borne infectious diseases. Malaria, which is strongly influenced by the climate, kills over 400,000 people every year.

Destroying key ecosystems and the unabated extraction of wildlife resources from their natural habitats have increased the probabilities of livestock and humans coming into contact with pathogens.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19, has been linked with human exposure to wildlife, and climate inaction has aggravated the situation.

Changes in rainfall and temperature, for example, can affect food sources of wild animals, which are common hosts to viruses. Changes in the movement and behavior of animals looking for food may bring wild animals and humans into closer contact.

Indeed, addressing climate change will help safeguard public health, and conserving biodiversity is one of the measures to achieve this.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of decisive public-health actions in the short and long term, and climate action is crucial today and in the years to come.

On April 22, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) joined the international community in commemorating Earth Day, with climate action as its theme.

The far-reaching issue of climate change, the impact of which will be felt by future generations, is important, now more than ever, as we marked the 50th Earth Day. The Asean region is highly vulnerable to climate change because of its archipelagos, long coastlines, and concentrated populations and economic activities in low-lying areas.

It is no stranger to disasters like storms, flooding, landslides and wildfire. Moreover, climate change-related diseases like dengue and malaria are constant threats.

Just as viruses recognize no borders, making infectious diseases a global concern that require nations to cooperate, so does climate change require cooperation.

While one nation’s aggressive climate policies and programs can be undermined by nations that do not have the same level of commitment, the agreements and coordinated actions by nations working together can multiply the results of climate action.

The ACB welcomes the ongoing initiatives of the Asean region in addressing climate change. All 10 Asean member-states (AMS) are parties to the 2015

Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The AMS are committed to keeping the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. All the AMS have submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions and targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Additionally, AMS leaders have been regularly issuing joint statements on climate change at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) since 2007.

The Asean joint statements highlight the region’s common views and concerns toward a global solution to climate challenges, and a climate-resilient Asean through national and regional actions.

In COP 25, the AMS affirmed their commitments, including the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, and fostering conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+).

The AMS are in varying stages of implementing REDD+, with some planning and designing road maps, and a number engaging local communities in reforestation and sustainable forest management.

Moreover, outside of REDD+, the AMS are actively conserving and planting mangroves, which are among the best carbon sinks. Mangroves are also nature-based solutions that serve as buffers against storms and flooding.

Restoring and conserving ecosystems like forests also contributes to carbon sequestration.

The Asean region has so far placed 13 percent of its terrestrial areas under protection, and is on track to meet the global Aichi Biodiversity target on increasing coverage of terrestrial and marine areas under protection.

Asean Heritage Parks (AHPs), a regional network of protected areas that conserve Asean’s rich, unique,

and endangered biodiversity, likewise contributes to mitigating climate change.

To scale up their initiatives, the AMS work with other nations and partners in several climate changerelated programs.

For example, the AMS collaborated with the ACB and other partners like the EU, KfW, and other organisations in the conduct of the Sixth AHP Conference.

The Conference enhanced capacities of AHP managers and facilitated sharing of best practices in AHP management, among them on climatechange mitigation and adaptation, with emphasis on nature-based solutions.

The AMS and India, together with the ACB, also worked together to share experiences and opportunities in integrating urban biodiversity conservation in cities.

Studies show that biodiversity in cities helps reduce heat, a common issue with climate change, and brings back native species in their natural habitats.

AMS leaders and experts have come together in other climate-related events to discuss actions and solutions and enhance capacities in climate response, like the Asean Climate Change Partnership Conference, and the Asean Strategic Policy Dialogue on Disaster Management in 2019.

These are but some of Asean’s climate initiatives.

We need all these and more to address our climate concerns, and consequently, mitigate the spread of climate-related infectious diseases.

As we work as a cohesive and a responsive Asean to address the Covid-19 pandemic, this Earth Day and beyond, let us continue to mitigate and adapt to climate change and its impacts in solidarity, for our health and our future.

Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim is the executive director of Asean Centre for Biodiversity.

TENAZAS, hence, suggested that the best way to avoid a potentially deadly virus: people should limit interaction with wildlife.

“The Philippine is a megadiverse country. Thus, in order to secure sustainable utilization of the country’s wildlife and its resources, and to be able to ensure public health and safety, the DENR, through the [BMB] has long been enforcing Republic Act 9147 and is totally prohibiting the collection, hunting and possession of wildlife, its by-products, and derivatives including trading and transporting,” she said.

‘Slap in the wrist’

Under the Wildlife Act, the penalty is not severe for those caught in illegal wildlife trade. It depends not only on the act but also on the conservation status of the wildlife.

Currently the highest penalties for critically endangered species that can be imposed are six years and one day to 12 years imprisonment, or a fine of P100,000 to P1 million for killing; two years and one day to four years imprisonment or a fine of P30,000 to P300,000 for hunting; and only two years and one

day to four years imprisonment or a fine of P5,000 to P300,000 for trading wildlife.

For mere transport of wildlife, the penalty is only six months to one year imprisonment and/or P50,000 to P100,000.

Often, violators get the minimum jail term or fine upon pleading guilty to the crime, hence, getting some sort of reprieve.

Stiffer penalty

The DENR-BMB is now pushing for an amendment to the law to impose the most stringent penalty, possibly, of 20 years imprisonment, for wildlife trafficking.

“This effort to amend [the law] is to ensure effective punishment of wildlife crimes to act as a significant disincentive, together with our incessant effort to regulate import and export of wildlife trade,” she said.

This, according to Tenazas, aims to ensure compliance of the permitting system under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the DENR to prevent illegal wildlife trade.

Strengthening law enforcement

Recognizing the indispensability of effective law enforcement, the DENR-BMB is also strengthening partnership with different law-enforcement agencies in the country that man airports, ports and other borders to prevent wildlife crimes and to include other cross-collaborative activities, she said.

On the capacity building side, she said there are 12 workshops lined up for 2020, such as Online Trade Investigation, and the Financial Investigation on Wildlife Crimes Advance Prosecutor and Enforcement Workshop, which are to be conducted in partnership with UNODC, USAID Protect Wildlife Project, BMB-ADB/GEF IWT Project and the United States Department of Justice Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training Counter Wildlife Trafficking.

“Our effort will include escalation of the campaign to the public to raise awareness of the risks of wildlife consumption, to public security and to public health with the end in view of furthering the enforcement efforts against trafficking of wildlife,” she said.

BIRDLIFE URGEs U.N. TO MAKE A ‘HEALTHY NATURAL ENVIRONMENT’ A HUMAN RIGHT

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n an open letter to the United Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres, the leading global conservation partnership, BirdLife International, recently marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day by calling for the UN to take a bold and unprecedented step: declare a healthy natural environment a fundamental human right.

The letter called on the UN as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, to add an “Article 31” to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights— enshrining a universal right to a healthy natural environment, guaranteed by public policies, governed by sustainability and by scientific and traditional indigenous knowledge.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights rose from the ashes of World War II, and mapped out for the first time the fundamental human rights that must be protected globally.

Its 30 articles cover subjects, such as torture, slavery and education, but crucially, nothing about preserving the environment—on which human and all life depends.

If successful, this amendment would be the first addition since the milestone document was proclaimed in 1948.

“Covid-19 is the biggest global crisis since World War II. But while the pandemic is devastating, it also gives world leaders a chance, indeed an obligation, to transform society—to further protect our welfare and future generations,” said Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, in a news release. “Our planet’s health is our health. We humans rely on nature for our survival and sanity, but our actions have upset Earth’s natural balance.”

We are in the grips of the twin climate and biodiversity crises, which have put over a million species at risk of extinction, and negatively impact human health, too, Zurita added.

The current pandemic has its roots in habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade. And as with the climate and biodiversity crises, Covid-19 highlights once again the need and possibility for humanity to be bold, decisive and work together—quickly.

“There have been efforts to include a right to a healthy environment in the past,” said Melanie Heath, director of Science and Policy of BirdLife International.

“Today, we hope that the gravity of the pandemic is a strong enough wake-up call for the UN and world citizens to come together to restore nature and protect us from similar crises in the future.”

“Article 31 would be a gift to the world and future generations. And what more appropriate time to launch a manifesto for it than on Earth Day,” said Asunción Ruiz, CEO of SEO/BirdLife, BirdLife’s Partner in Spain.

“Instead of learning from the corona crisis, some leaders are cynically using it as an excuse to roll back environmental protection. Enshrining a healthy natural environment as a sacred human right will be an accomplishment that will benefit humanity for centuries to come, and is the only way to achieve the UN sustainable development goals,” Ruiz said.

“Covid-19 marks the persistence of an old enemy.

We believe that human-caused ecosystem disturbances is one of the urgent environmental issues that should be addressed today in order to prevent pandemics,” said Alejandro T. Flores Jr., Haribon Foundation Board of Trustees chairman.

The letter urgently calls for Article 31’s right to a healthy natural environment to be included on the Agenda of the UN General Assembly’s Summit on Biodiversity in September 2020, with the ultimate goal of its approval in December 2023, to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration.

“The future of human health lies on the crucial decisions we make today. As the BirdLife Partner in the Philippines, we support the call of BirdLife International to the UN Secretary-General on the need to recognize the right of people to a healthy environment,” Flores said.

This letter forms part of a wider push to improve climate and nature policy at the end of the UN Decade on Biodiversity, and is an open call to the rest of the planet’s civil society for support; the inclusion of the right to a healthy natural environment is a task we should all be behind if we are to protect our welfare, survival and save our planet, BirdLife said.

A8 Sunday, May 3, 2020

Sports BusinessMirror

NCAA faces lawsuit over violence against women at colleges

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HE NCAA is facing a federal lawsuit accusing the organization of failing to address gender-based violence by male athletes against female students at colleges and universities.

Plaintiffs in the suit, filed this week in US District Court in Michigan, include women who have been athletes at Michigan State, Nebraska and an unidentified America East school. Other plaintiffs have been students at Michigan State or Nebraska.

“Defendants routinely issue harsh punishments against student-athletes who accept payments in exchange for use of their likenesses, or who accept free meals, but they

have no specific penalty for student-athletes who commit sexual assault,” the suit says. “Defendants have repeatedly and persistently failed to take any meaningful action to mitigate the severe issue of sexual misconduct perpetrated by male student-athletes against women at their member institutions.”

A Nebraska spokeswoman said Thursday the school received a copy of the lawsuit against the NCAA and cannot comment on pending litigation.

A message was left with the NCAA seeking comment.

A former track athlete at Michigan State, a former volleyball player at Nebraska and a swimmer at an America East school are among

the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision, fraud, breach of contract with student-athletes and breach of contract with non-student athletes.

The suit accuses a men’s track athlete at Michigan State of rape in 2017, and it accuses football players at Nebraska of rape in 2018 and 2019 and of nonconsensual groping in 2019. It also accuses a Nebraska athlete of rape in 2015, and a men’s basketball player at the America East school of rape in 2019.

The suit includes allegations of rape against

three Michigan State basketball players in 2015.

The woman who made those allegations spoke about them last year and filed a lawsuit in 2018.

The lawsuit against the NCAA alleges that after the female track athlete at Michigan State was raped by a member of the men’s team, she reported the rape to an assistant coach, who told her “if she pursued any claims against [the man], no one would like her, and that because [she] is ‘pretty,’ she would become a ‘distraction.’”

The suit says members of the men’s track team threatened her if she pursued charges. The suit says the woman was removed from the sprint squad so she would not be around the man she said raped her.

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

The female track athlete also filed her own suit against Michigan State. The school would not comment on the suit against the NCAA, while spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said it would be inappropriate to comment about the suit against MSU. “That said, we take allegations of sexual misconduct and retaliation very seriously, and our Office of Institutional Equity reviews all allegations it receives,” she said. “In the last several years, MSU has taken significant steps to increase resources for survivors, to revise and to educate the campus community on our policies, as well as to further its prevention efforts.”

The lawsuit against the NCAA says the swimmer at an America East school was raped by a basketball player last year, and that the swimmer’s mother was told by an athletics

LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES IN ’21 CANCELED W

ILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania— This year’s Little League World Series and the championship tournaments in six other Little League divisions have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Little League President Stephen Keener announced the cancellations in a Facebook

Live broadcast Thursday afternoon from league headquarters in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, saying it would be “impossible” to hold the events amid ongoing restrictions on large gatherings and travel.

The Little League World Series has been held every August since 1947 and had never been canceled before. Next year was to be the 75th playing of the tournament—that milestone has

been pushed back to 2022.

“Let me tell the folks in all those communities and all the sites where we have regional qualifying tournaments how disappointed we are to have to do this, but it was inevitable,” Keener said. “It would be irresponsible and impossible to bring teams and thousands of people from all over the world into the community of Williamsport, as well as those six other

employee that a formal Title IX investigation would result in an immediate suspension of the basketball player, pending the outcome of the investigation.

According to the complaint, the athletics employee said an informal Title IX resolution process could not result in the player being suspended “because it ‘wouldn’t be fair to other players’ and it ‘would have a negative impact on the community’ who attended games expecting to see [him] play.”

The woman did not want to initiate the formal Title IX investigation because she feared retaliation, the suit says. In January, she learned the school was going to be running an ad featuring the basketball player to promote the athletic department.

The America East Conference said it doesn’t comment on legal matters. AP

RIVER RIDGE (Louisiana) takes a victory lap around the field at Lamade Stadium after winning the Little against Curacao, 8-0, in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in August. AP

communities that have been such great friends and supporters of ours over the years.”

He added that travel restrictions would make it equally impossible to hold qualifying tournaments for international teams and to bring those teams safely to the United States.

Little League has not, however, called off the 2020 regular season. Keener said there was reason for optimism that teams could play this spring and summer, depending on restrictions in states and localities.

The annual major league game in Williamsport, which this year was to feature the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles on August 23, has been canceled, Major League Baseball (MLB) said.

“While the cancellation of the 2020 Little League World Series is extremely disappointing, the health and safety of all of the people involved must be the paramount consideration.

We look forward to our return to Williamsport for the 2021 MLB Little League Classic,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

Little League announced in March that the season was on hold until at least May 11 because of guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention against gatherings of 50 people or more.

After that date, Keener said, districts and leagues should look to states and localities for guidance on when or if the season can resume. He also urged districts to hold all-star tournaments to

give kids at least a taste of the competition they’ll be missing with World Series qualifying scrapped.

“We will be very amenable to [changing] eligibility requirements and be very flexible to allow as many kids the opportunity to play as possible for whatever can remain of the 2020 Little League season,” he said.

Along with the Little League World Series, which is held in South Williamsport, the other events canceled were the World Series of Little League Softball in Greenville, North Carolina; Junior League Baseball in Taylor, Michigan; Junior League Softball in Kirkland, Washington; Senior League Baseball in Easley, South Carolina; and Senior League Softball in Sussex County, Delaware. AP

Baseball Hall of Famer deals with coronavirus as mortician

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IAMI—The man consoling mourners and directing his staff at Paradise Memorial Funeral Home might look familiar if he wasn’t wearing a mask.

It’s baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson.

Owning a funeral home took some getting used to, Dawson said Thursday, and now he’s adjusting to life as a mortician during a global pandemic.

Thus the mask. He wears gloves, too, and explains to customers that services in the chapel must be a lot shorter than normal and limited to 10 people.

“It’s very sad,” he said. “It’s very sad.

Because people mourn and grieve differently, and they’re not getting through that process as

they would under normal circumstances. You see a lot of hurt and pain.”

Dawson, 65, entered the business in 2003, when he became an investor in his younger brother’s funeral home. An opportunity to own and operate Paradise Memorial arose 12 years ago.

“It kind of fell into my lap,” he said. “Growing up I could have never envisioned this. I was actually afraid of the dead when I was a kid.

“When it came to funeral homes and seeing someone in a casket, it would remind me of being young and going to see a real scary horror movie and not being able to sleep at night. That’s where I was. But you grow and change with the times.”

Andre Dawson poses at the Paradise Memorial Funeral Home in Miami. AP

The times are especially challenging these days. A Brooklyn funeral home became so overwhelmed by the coronavirus it stored dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks until a passerby complained this week about the smell, officials said.

Paradise Memorial has dealt with six deceased Covid-19 victims, Dawson said. He met with employees Thursday to ensure they’re prepared if the caseload becomes heavier.

His wife of 42 years, Vanessa, is the office manager, while his uncle runs the day to day operation. The staff totals 23, and they’re wearing masks and going through a lot of hand sanitizer.

“It’s stressful because of the times and the uncertainty,” Dawson said. “But this is what we signed up for. As challenging as it can be, we just pray and hope we’re prepared for it.”

Dawson, a Miami native, ended his 21-year major league career in 1996, and he was an eight-time All-Star despite knee injuries that have led to more than a dozen operations. He’s best remembered for his 49-homer season with the Chicago Cubs in 1987, when he was voted the National League Most Valuable Player.

Dawson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010. He showed traits as a player that have made him a successful mortician, said his brother, Vincent Brown, who has been involved in the funeral business since 1985.

“He played through injuries when everybody else gave up on him,” Brown said. “He showed how dedicated and passionate he is about everything he does. He wants to serve, and he has compassion for those he’s serving.” AP

More Russian doping cases in pipeline as probe ends

M

ONTREAL—Russian sports could face a new wave of doping charges after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said Thursday it completed its investigation of a vast trove of evidence on nearly 300 athletes, with nearly half the files showing signs of manipulation.

Wada dug through a computer archive it obtained last year from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, where past doping cases were covered up. Of the 298 athletes investigated, Wada said it found signs of manipulation in files relating to 145 of them.

Investigators had to contend with deliberate

attempts to throw them off the scent, Wada said.

Those ruses could still undermine attempts to charge and ban athletes who doped.

It said the athletes investigated came from sports governed by 27 different international federations, but didn’t say which.

“The Russian doping crisis has dominated Wada’s time and resources over the past five years and the agency’s investigations team has been on the front line,”Wada President Witold Banka said in a statement. “I would like to thank them for their diligence, professionalism and expertise, as well as the organizations that have now received

case packages for the work they will do and their ongoing cooperation in protecting clean sport and for bringing as many cheats to justice as possible.”

After years of bruising legal battles around Russian doping and the 2014 Sochi Olympics, prosecuting the newest cases could be extremely difficult.

Wada has argued the data archive was manipulated while in Russia, with some evidence deleted and false trails laid. That’s the basis of an ongoing legal battle to ban Russia’s name and flag from the Olympics and other major events for four years. AP

‘Infecting our dreams’: Pandemic sabotages sleep worldwide

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BusinessMirror MAY 3 , 2020 | soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com

YOUR MUSI

ANNIEWHEREWEGO

By Annie S. Alejo

Have you caught it yet?

The livestreams, I mean

W

ITH most people staying put at home, most people have resorted to going online to keep in touch. During the lockdown period being experienced all over the world, even musicians had to learn new tricks to keep in touch with their fans.

Bono (AP File Photo)

Publisher

: T. Anthony C. Cabangon

Editor-In-Chief

: Lourdes M. Fernandez

Concept

: Aldwin M. Tolosa

Y2Z Editor

: Jt Nisay

SoundStrip Editor

: Edwin P. Sallan

Group Creative Director : Eduardo A. Davad Graphic Designers Contributing Writers

: Niggel Figueroa Anabelle O. Flores : Tony M. Maghirang, Rick Olivares, Darwin Fernandez, Mony Romana, Leony Garcia, Stephanie Joy Ching Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

Columnists

: Kaye VillagomezLosorata Annie S. Alejo

Photographers

: Bernard P. Testa Nonie Reyes

Y2Z & SOUNDSTRIP are published and distributed free every Sunday by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing Inc. as a project of the

Is it the new normal where we won’t have to go to concerts anymore?

I sure hope not. To me, nothing beats coming together and experiencing a swell of happiness within a crowd that loves the same songs you do.

However, these livestreams that show our favorite artists in another light are perhaps some of the few good things to come out of this pandemic.

For their talent, their fun personalities, and sense of humor, we thank them.

Bono

On March 18, from “bubblin’ Dublin,” Bono took to Facebook to sing to the Italians, the Irish and “to ANYONE who this St. Patrick’s day is in a tight spot and still singing.” In the caption, he also gave a shoutout to the doctors, nurses, and frontliners: “It’s you we’re singing to.” Awww.

He then did a piano-accompanied version of “Let Your Love Be Known,” a tune he supposedly made up an hour before he went on social media with it. Bare-bones and heartfelt, and with notes all over the place, it was glorious nonetheless. Great view, too.

Chris Martin The Philippine Business Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd Floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

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Chris Martin (AP File Photo)

From Coldplay’s IGTV channel, all smiles, a bit chatty, and a little shy, Chris played bits of songs, read IG messages, talked to his audience, and shared anecdotes. He performed “a little-known version” of “Sky Full of Stars” on guitar, after which he shared the band didn’t really take to it when he first made them listen as

Jason Mraz (AP File Photo)

“it didn’t sound great.” Laughed when he hits the wrong keys on the piano during “Viva La Vida.” He was asked, “where is the autotune?” He replied with a wide smile, “Great question!”

The down-to-earth approach made me feel like Gwyneth—much to my chagrin—just chillin’ with him in his music room, and made me appreciate a guy I normally don’t listen to much.

Jason Mraz

I’ve seen this guy in concert and had been blown away. On April 1st, he did a livestream on YouTube and kept it casual as well. He even said, “Salamat po to the Philippines” twice to my count. Midway, he aired a

short clip about his herb garden and picking out avocados. LOL. There was a bit of a glitch throughout with the volume going really low, and without an ear monitor he admitted he couldn’t tell. Jason didn’t sing as much as he talked and shared info about his new album. He needs to learn to read comments more while talking because people were asking him to put the volume up. Still, when he gets the hang of it, he seems wacky enough to be able to do so much with this format.

You can search and enjoy all these videos on Facebook and YouTube.

Excuse me while I scour around for some more.

soundstrip.businessmirror@gmail.com | MAY 3 , 2020

IC OUR BUSINESS

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SoundSampler

CUM ON FEEL THE NEW NOIZE!

by Tony M. Maghirang

“Korporasyon” is an instrumental showcase of what Unique and company can do. On the other hand, “Bukod Tangi” and album closer “Huwag Ka Sanang Magagalit” hint of sweetness amidst the power chords.

There are a few occasions when Unique sings the same lines more than twice possibly for effect but the rich production values more than make up for the exaggeration. In “Pangalan,” Unique is coming into his own, outside of the shadow of his previous musical alliances.

ELECTRIC LAMBANOG Self-Titled

M

ANILA-based four piece Electric Lambanog deals in heavy riffage and swirling psychedelic music. To these ears, their eponymous EP is time stamped 1994 when Soundgarden unleashed “Superunknown.” Electric Lambanog channels their inner heavy bluesmen into the melodic grunge of Seattle’s Soundgarden by mid-1990s.

There’s no question of the musical competence of the band. What’s refreshingly new is the mood they uncoil that’s heavier, not necessarily louder, yet unbelievably appealing. Their “Sunrise” will melt hearts of stone while “Old Dog, New God” ranks up there among the finest soundtracks to serious acts of contrition. Well, “Wasak” is a fervent hymn either for a recovering addict or for one at the threshold of earthy high and it’s the transcendent guitar that takes you to beautifully heartbreaking peaks.

Their full album debut is eagerly awaited in these parts.

The Strokes (Photo by Jason McDonald)

Decisions” which hint of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” and “Why Are Sundays So Depressing” that sounds like punks remembering their well-spent youth.

The Strokes are back and they want you to fuck art, sit down and listen.

THE STROKES The New Abnormal

J

UST when most music fans are looking forward to the next big thing, New York’s post-punk heroes The Strokes drops a new album that serves notice we all need a fresh dose of their acclaimed classic “Is This It?” And abhorrent it may be to say all those acoustic remakes should get locked up where they truly belong, what these lockdown times really need is a reboot of something we used to love like the happy jerky The Strokes.

Mind, The Strokes in “The New Abnormal” aren’t selling nostalgia for the sake of revisiting the past in new drag or reviving better times for thirty-something millennials. The solo efforts of individual Strokes over the last two decades will have none of that.

Actually, the first track “The Adults Are Talking” pay homage to the band’s electro-punk past.

From there onwards, the angular guitars and the counterpoints of old give way to the “normal’ guitardriven modern rock, straying once to the synth pop splash of “At The Door.” Best of the lot are “Bad

UNIQUE Pangalan

O

N his second solo outing after leaving IV of Spades, Unique Salonga is expected to find his own voice, like carving his own name in Pinoy pop music. The advance notice is that he’d mine his distinctive voice and his love of the psychedelic ‘60s to get there while sidestepping the dreaded sophomore slump at the same time.

“Pangalan” takes heed of the attractions in Unique’s debut album – striking vocals, impressive musicianship – with a perceptible inclination to smudge the music with art-rock tropes. “Lamang Lupa” is an agile pop-rocker with a sideways graze at Madonna’s “Material Girl,” which concludes in a swarm of electronic buzz. Noise rock scrapes the delicate appeal of “Delubyo” while opener

SAILING BY THE SUNLIT SEA Pipe Loads and Feeble Dreams

I

N an email message, the musician who goes by the name Sailing By The Sunlit Sea told SoundStrip that his DIY solo EP was produced using “a Fernando telescaster guitar, an NUX MG100 multi-fx processor, an Ammoon AM-4R mixer/ interface and a hand-me-down core i5 laptop from my mom.” It looks like a set-up for a scrappy project but hey, tracks like “Conscious Incompetence” and “The Good Stoic” will have you imagining a proficient Joe Satriani wannabe. “Getting Two Birds Stoned At Once” expertly negotiates emo and post-rock amid double-kick drum slams.

He calls Molave, Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao home where he says nothing serious is happening except cover bands and show bands.

Despite being on the edge of nowhere musically, Sailing By The Sunlit Sea has come up with an album that should inspire musicians on lockdown physically and emotionally. Rock on, you crazy diamonds!

OE SATRIANI Shapeshifting

G

UITAR hero Joe Satriani influenced a host of guitar players since he played footsy with the aliens in the mid-1980s. That’s all blah now when all sorts of excellent guitar manglers have come out from the post-rock to new metal to jazz rock sphere.

You take that attitude listening to Satriani’s 17th recording entitled Shapeshifting and you come out with the feeling not so many shapes have shifted since you last heard Joe. Hendrix guitars plugged to the power pop of “Distortion” seems distinctly original but who needs big bold riffs that overwhelm potentially glorious hooks?

The same overpowering presence deflates “Nineteen Eighty” and “Yesterday’s Yesterday” in the service of Mighty Joe’s herculean chord ripping ability.

“All My Friends Here”starts on a funky breezy mood then midway, Joe S inserts a distorted take on Dick Dale surf guitar for an all-around fun number. In “Perfect Dust” and “Spirits, Ghosts and Outlaws,” he provides space for his backing musicians to shine a little and allows band collaboration to take center stage. These instances communicate beauty over the sheer volume of a guitar guru.

(All albums reviewed are available on most digital music platforms.)

‘Infecting our dreams’: Pandemic sabotages sleep worldwide

By Gillian Flaccus

F

The Associated Press

or millions of people around the world dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, sleep brings no relief.

The horrors of Covid-19, and the surreal and frightening ways it has upended daily life, are infecting dreams and exposing feelings of fear, loss, isolation and grief that transcend culture, language and national boundaries.

Everyone from a college teacher in Pakistan to a mall cashier in Canada to an Episcopalian priest in Florida is confronting the same daytime demon. Each is waking up in a sweat in the dead of night.

Experts say humanity has rarely experienced “collective dreaming” on such a broad scale in recorded history—and certainly never while also being able to share those nightmares in real time. “It’s that alarming feeling of when you wake up and think, ‘Thank heavens I woke up,’” said Holly Smith, an elementary school librarian in Detroit. “Once it hits your dreams, you think, ‘Great, now I can’t even escape there.’”

The psychological toll is staggering, particularly for health care workers whose dreams show similarities to those of combat veterans and 9/11 responders, said Deirdre Barrett, a Harvard University professor who is surveying Covid dreamers worldwide. She has collected 6,000 dream samples from about 2,400 people.

So many people are sharing accounts of dreams online that there’s a Twitter account dedicated to gathering them in a virtual library under the handle “I Dream of Covid.”

“As far as I know, no one has dream samples from the flu pandemic of 1918—and that would probably be the most comparable thing,” said Barrett, who has studied

People around the world are all dreaming about the same thing, the new coronavirus and the way it has upended the lives of millions around the globe. Experts say this is a unique moment and are collecting and analyzing Covid-19 dreams for study. It’s also first time in human history that people around the globe are able to share their collective dreams instantaneously on social media. Illustration by Peter Hamlin the dreams of 9/11 survivors and British prisoners of war in World War II. “Now we just all have our smartphones by our bed, so you can just reach over and speak it or type it down. Recording our dreams has never been easier.”

The dreams are also exposing what is bothering us the most about the pandemic.

The themes seem universal.

Dreams of a safe place suddenly overtaken by the virus speak to contagion’s terrifying invisibility, says Cathy Caruth, a professor at Cornell University who has studied trauma for 30 years. Pandemic dreams, she says, are reminiscent of the experience of Hiroshima survivors, who worried about invisible radiation exposure, and also of some nightmares described by Vietnam veterans.

“They seem to be in part about things that are hard to grasp, what it means that anybody can be a threat and you can be a threat to everybody,” Caruth said.

Episcopalian priest Mary Alice Mathison dreamed 500 people showed up for a funeral in her church and wouldn’t go home. Other dreams underscore that no one knows how the pandemic will end. In those, the dreamer wakes with a start before learning how it turned out.

Ashley Trevino is still trying to pro-

cess one terrifying dream. The 24-year-old barista is out of work due to the pandemic and was spooked when officials announced the first Covid-19 death in her central Texas county.

A few days later, she dreamed she and her girlfriend were in line to enter a dark, metal warehouse where they’d be injected with the new coronavirus by government workers wearing Hazmat suits. Fluorescent lights in the parking lot cast an eerie glow as she watched her partner get the shot and gasp for breath. Then she got the shot, too.

“I watched her kind of collapse against the wall and while I was trying to fight the effects of it and not pass out myself, I was like...‘Is she dead now?’”

Trevino woke up whimpering. She immediately felt an impulse to share her nightmare with someone—anyone—and tweeted it to the world from her bed.

In Pakistan’s Punjab province, a college literature teacher described dreaming she was one of only 100 people left on the planet who didn’t have Covid-19. The infected population had gained political control and was chasing the uninfected “so the world would become the same for everyone,” said Roha Rafiq, 28.

Rafiq is terrified for her elderly father, who insists on going to prayers every day

despite a cough and a stay-at-home order. “I think,” she said in a Twitter direct message, “this anxiety has given me this dream.”

According to Barrett, many people dream they are sick with Covid-19 or of being overcome by what seem to be stand-ins for the virus: swarms of bugs, slithering worms, witches, grasshoppers with fangs.

Others dream of being in crowded public places without a mask or proper social distancing.

Still others dream of losing control.

In one such dream, the dreamer was held down by infected people who coughed on her. In another, the dreamer came across bands of people shooting at random strangers.

Most are lower-level anxiety dreams, not trauma-induced nightmares. But that changes dramatically for frontline health workers, Barrett says.

“The health-care providers are the ones who look like a trauma population. They are having flat-out nightmares that reenact the things they’re experiencing and…they all have the theme that ‘I am responsible for saving this person’s life and I’m not succeeding and this person is about to die,’” she said.

“And when they dream about their child or parent getting it, for the care providers there’s always the next step in the dream where they realize...‘I gave it to them.’”

Even the simple, unadorned dreams— far from the drama of the ICU—seem poignant right now. Some people dream of getting a hug, attending a party, getting a haircut, going to the library.

Lauren Nickols, 30, an avid reader, stocked up on library books before Ohio’s stay-at-home order. Now her supply is running low. She recently dreamed her dresser was piled with books. She found the dream reassuring, but a reminder of the mundane things that have been lost.

“I guess it’s a bit of a sense of shared community, but it’s also really sad that we’re all missing things. It really shows you all the things you do without realizing it,” she says. “And now that you can’t, it’s a shock to the system.”

Edukasyon.ph stays true to its mission

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

I

n response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education system, Edukasyon.ph, the largest online platform empowering Filipino youth from education to career, has launched several initiatives to stay true to its mission amid the global health crisis.

According to Henry Motte-Muñoz, founder and CEO of Edukasyon.ph, the edtech start-up has been working on several initiatives to improve connectivity, enhance efficiency and bring convenience

to its student and partner communities through its platform.

“These months have historically been peak season for senior high students searching for courses, colleges and scholarships on Edukasyon.ph, and we are now seeing 10x more online inquiries given the challenges of community lockdown,” Motte-Muñoz said in a statement. “We’re grateful that more schools are opening up to online operations and are pleased to offer our services for free to ensure both schools and students are connected and supported.”

4 BusinessMirror

Over 500 senior high schools and colleges have joined the platform in the last three years for its school services.

In the time of a pandemic, the tools have helped educational institutions on process continuity and protect its frontline staff from avoidable physical contact with students and parents.

Edukasyon.ph has gained nearly 200 new partner schools in the past month.

Among them are University of the Visayas campuses, University of Mindanao campuses and the AMA Education System.

May 3, 2020

Edukasyon.ph Founder and CEO Henry Motte-Muñoz