HEADS UP: It's Day 1 of ECQ Season 2, What to Expect (March 29)

Here's a Heads Up from Reportr.World on news that you need to know today, March 29:

ECQ IS BACK

• It's Day one of ECQ in Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan. It will last until April 4 and is meant to halt the surge in coronavirus infections.
• Here's your guide to the 2021 ECQ, which was announced late Saturday.
• Here are the shopping mall operating hours, plus which businesses are allowed to operate.

CULTURE EXPLAINED

• Samantha Bernardo won first runner up in Miss Grand International, using both Filipino values and science to explain her stand on vaccines. 
• Netflix-bound Filipino filmmaker Ronnie del Carmen revealed the inspiration for the photo montage opening scene he wrote for Disney-Pixar's "Up." It's his own father.

ECONOMY EXPLAINED

• Lockdowns without enough virus-fighting measures is weighing on the Philippines' economic recovery, tipped to be the slowest in Southeast Asia, according to the World Bank.

TOP STORIES

• For the third straight day, the DOH reported around 9,000 new COVID-19 cases, underscroing the severity of the surge.
• Until April 15, there will be no disconnections in areas serviced by Meralco in the NCR Plus ECQ area.
• GCash has partnered with digital bank CIMB to give users up to P100,000 credit limit.
• Convicted rapist-killer, ex-Mayor Antonio Sanchez, has died in jail. He was behind the death of UP students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez in the mid 1990s.
• Skip EDSA, come June, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge will give motorists shuttling between Mandaluyong and Makati an alternative to the Guadalupe Bridge, DPWH Sec. Mark Villar told Summit Sandwich Sessions.
• Proud Bisaya and giving back, Lanao del Norte food vlogger Allyn Balaba uses her YouTube earnings to feed 100 people every week.