HEADS UP: COVID Surge Seems Like Replay of Last Year? (March 16)

Here's a Heads Up from Reportr.World on news that you need to know today, March 16:

THE SURGE IS REAL:

• Another record-high for 2021, the DOH recorded 5,404 COVID cases yesterday.
• St. Luke's Global City is filling up, so are ICU beds at the Philippine General Hospital and Quezon City General Hospital, scenes reminiscent of March last year, when Metro Manila was locked down for the first time.
• Makati Mayor Abigail Binay said there's a sense of deja vu, as she reminded the public to observe health protocols and stay home as much as possible.
• Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque is in isolation after contracting COVID-19.
• Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto is also under isolation, awaiting results of his COVID test. His driver died recently of the disease.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

• Here's your guide to the Metro Manila curfew that will run until the end of March, including who are exempted.
• Here's how you can stay COVID safe in the workplace. Quezon City traced the surge to office workers bringing the virus home.
• Here's your guide to how much things have or have not changed one year since the first lockdown.
• Heads up if you're in Manila. Here's a list of additional barangays under localized lockdown.
• The DOLE says employers should shoulder the cost of vaccines for their employees.

TOP STORIES:

• On the first anniversary of the lockdowns, President Rodrigo Duterte has this message to the nation: Don't despair.
• Tens of thousands of people shared a video of Pope Francis' mass at the Vatican for 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The viral video featured The Lord's Prayer being sung in Filipino.
• MRT cleaners caught in a viral video haphazardly wiping down the trains face disciplinary action, said the DOTr.
• AstraZeneca, whose COVID vaccine is in the Philippines' protfolio, said there's no evidence to link its jab to increased blood clots in recipients.
• The BTS Army is enraged the loss and unfair treatment of their idols at the Grammy Awards.
• Taylor Swift won her third Album of the Year Grammy while Beyonce became the most awarded female performer ever during the ceremony that celebrated women.
• Watching TV to chill can be educational from the public health perspective. Here's how.
• The Philippines is luring Hong Kong's toymakers to set up shop here with the promise of lower taxes.
• How is Huawei dealing with the long-running U.S. ban? It's marketing its inverters to giant fish pens and mining sites.