Gov't Expects Economic Rebound In 2021, 2022

The government is closely watching developments on two fronts in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One is the number of infections and deaths, the direct impact of the coronavirus on the people. The other is the economic impact of the pandemic — the big losses in national development and on the people’s livelihood.

In the first area, the Department of Health last Sunday reported 3,190 new cases since its last report two months ago, for a new total of 322,497 cases nationwide. The good news is that there were 18,065 newly recorded recoveries.

Metro Manila accounted for 37 percent of the new cases; Calabarzon (Region 4-A) had 21 percent; and Central Luzon (Region 3) had 11 percent — more than two-thirds of the national total. This should explain to Metro Manilans why their region remains under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) lockdown. There were 100 new deaths– 57 in September and 16 so far in October — to raise the national death total to 5,776.