Cardiologist, a life-long learner and mentor, passes on due to COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines lost another of its front-liners in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, as a noted cardiologist Raul Diaz Jara due to the new coronavirus disease.
The Philippine Heart Association mourned the loss of its former head, Jara, whom it fondly recalled as “one of the great pillars of Cardiology,” and a “great father, teacher, mentor, poet, author, singer, colleague and friend.”
PHA noted that Jara did not fail to impart knowledge and wisdom in his life, and has made trainees sweat with bullets with his questions, but left his teachings to the young professionals.
“Philippine Cardiology will not be the same without you,” it added.
Jara was one of the authors of the 2013 published book, “My First Book on Echocardiography.”
He was PHA’s president on 1999-2000, and was the recipient of the Loyalty Award in 2008 given to those who “must have continuously served the Association in various capacities and has contributed in the furtherance of its goals.”
PHA also posted a note from Jara’s family, who remembered him as one who “dedicated his whole life to constant learning and teaching and molding future doctors.”
“As an Internist and Cardiologist, he is passionate about the art and science of his work. He took pride in serving the Filipino people. He paid tribute to the predecessors who paved the way for medicine,” his family also saod.
Jara’s family also thanked the doctors, nurses and staff of the Philippine Heart Center who went beyond the call of duty and “treated him with compassion.”
They asked: “We must be strong. We must live on. We must persevere. Go on with a steady heart.”
COVID-19 deaths
COVID-19 infections in the Philippines breached the 500th mark on Tuesday.
The Department of Health reported 39 new infections, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 501.
33 have died due to the disease, while 19 patients have so far recovered.
Among those who died was an unnamed young cardiologist and anaesthesiologist Dr. Greg Macasaet, whose death was announced by Manila Doctors Hospital.
Health workers at the frontlines on long shifts are among those most exposed to the virus.
In a statement issued on Sunday, healthcare group Coalition for People's Right to Health (CPRH) called for more support to be afforded to health workers, whom the group said was among those most vulnerable and at risk amid the outbreak of the virus.
READ: Groups call for COVID-19 testing, better support and pay for health workers
"From experiencing mandatory quarantine to severe cases of respiratory distress and now even death, health professional and workers are literally giving their lives in the service of the nation and its people during this pandemic," the statement read. — with reports from Franco Luna
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New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
The head of US intelligence says that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus was created in the Chinese government's Wuhan research lab.
In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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