News
Manila declares ‘health break’, suspends classes for 1 week
MANILA – The Manila City government has declared a one-week “health break” from online and physical classes for students in the city from January 14 to 21 under Executive Order No. 07.
In a press conference on Thursday, Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso said classes will be suspended due to the rising number of people getting infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The suspension of classes will cover all levels, online and physical classes, in all private and public schools in the city.
“Marami tayong mga guro ngayon infected, marami rin tayong mga estudyante infected ng (We have many teachers and students nowadays who are infected with) Covid-19, so the city of Manila is now declaring a health break starting tomorrow January 14 to January 21,” Domagoso said.
“…Para magkaron ng health break naman ang lahat, mabawasan ang anxiety level ng teacher at makapag pahinga yung mga teacher kasi most of them are doing online despite their infection, eh kawawa naman (So we could have a health break and help reduce the anxiety level of teachers so they could rest as most of them still conduct online classes despite their infection),” he added.
Meanwhile, Domagoso announced that starting at 12 a.m. on Friday, the booster shot drive-through vaccination drive at the Quirino Grandstand will operate 24 hours.
He said the city government came up with the decision after they witnessed the high demand from four-wheel vehicle owners during his site inspection Thursday morning.
The drive-through vaccination site was originally capped at 300 vehicles only but as of 11 a.m., the number of vehicles was already at 240.
Domagoso said this only means that many people are willing to receive the Covid-19 booster shots.
Following the extension, Domagoso said they will no longer have a limit on the capacity of vehicles that the city government will cater in Luneta.
He added the vaccination site, just like all the vaccination sites in the city, will be open to Manila and non-Manila residents.
Individuals interested to receive the booster shot just have to bring and present their vaccination cards.
“Itutuloy natin, papalawakin natin, pahahabain natin, gagawin nating unli hangga’t may bakuna (We will continue this, we will expand, and we will make this unlimited as long as we have vaccine supply),” Domagoso said.
He said the city currently has a stock of about 200,000 doses of different brands of the Covid-19 jabs given by the national government, as well as the AstraZeneca earlier procured by the city government.
As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the city government has administered a total of 3,112,568 Covid-19 vaccine doses.
Of the number, 1,634,918 of them have received their first dose while 1,517,217 individuals are already fully protected.
A total of 234,884 minors aged 12 to 17 have received their Covid-19 vaccine doses, 125,234 of them got their first dose, while 109,650 are fully vaccinated.
The city has also administered a total of 208,521 Covid-19 booster shot doses.
Marita Moaje
