No doubt the Philippines was in a celebratory mood as our COVID numbers continue to reward our efforts to vaccinate. The number of new cases took a steep drop to three-digit levels and the positivity rate is well below the WHO’s recommended level. All around us, businesses started opening up, and our kababayans were looking forward to spending the holidays with their families. But then word from South Africa came: there is a new COVID-19 variant, and it looks as if it is highly transmissible. One after the other, there was increased concern about its ability to evade immunity and the severity …

Read More